


Hot for Teacher

by plisetskees



Category: DRAMAtical Murder (Visual Novel), DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Aoba is 17/18, Explicit Sexual Content, Gang Violence, Hippie Mink, Koujaku is in the friend zone, M/M, Multiple Personalities, Sly is Unwelcome, Stoner Mink, Teacher-Student Relationship, Underage Drinking, nobody likes trip and virus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-13 11:05:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 29
Words: 39,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3379217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plisetskees/pseuds/plisetskees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mink, the long-term sub in Aoba's US History class, is quite possibly the hottest man Aoba has ever laid eyes on. And Aoba is stuck in detention with him for the rest of the foreseeable future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> apologies for any ooc-ness, im new to this fandom :)  
> all last names are my own headcanon names, bc why doesn't anyone in this game have last names

Aoba leaned back in his chair, his feet propped on the desk. He was sprawled out comfortably, and spoke to his friend Koujaku in rapidfire Japanese. The whole class was loud and jittery as they waited for their new teacher to show up. 

A few weeks ago, the American History teacher (who was probably old enough to remember Washington's election,) had fallen and broken her hip in the parking lot. She announced her immediate retirement, and the school had been searching furiously for a replacement ever since. 

Aoba had heard from the rumor mill that the replacement was some sort of ex-convict, some big, scary muscle man who was fired from his past teaching job for hitting a kid. Though he was never one to believe everything he heard, Aoba was curious to see just how terrifying this guy could be. He probably couldn't be too bad, considering how late he was on his first day of the job.

When the new teacher opened the door to the classroom, the whole class stopped talking. There was a moment of silence that allowed everyone to take in who he was. He was a tall, muscular man with dark, tanned skin and high cheekbones. His long, brown hair had ornaments and decorations in it, and his eyes were capable of staring holes through someone. "My name," he said in a deep baritone that seemed to shake the floor, "is Mr. Begay. Though, since the likelihood of any of you all pronouncing it correctly is slim to none, I'm asking you now to just call me Mink."

Something about that sentence didn't sit right with Aoba. "Who does this guy think he is?" He asked Koujaku, in Japanese. "What an asshole, coming in and demanding all this on his first day."

"He has a point though. I'd like to see you try to pronounce his name, Mister Hooked-On-Phonics," Koujaku replied in Japanese. Aoba rolled his eyes.

They earned themselves a glare from their new teacher. Aoba rolled his eyes and muttered "Psh, like that scares me. This guy is gonna be such an asshole," to Koujaku. 

"The girls seem pretty enamored with him, though." Koujaku noted. 

Aoba just shrugged and looked at Mink. "He's hot, I guess. Good muscles and bone structure. I'd fuck him, sure, but I haven't seen much emotion coming from him, so what's the point of anything more than that?" Aoba looked him up and down, and giggled with Koujaku. 

"I'm glad I have a loyal gay friend like you to scope out my competition for me," Koujaku laughed, and Aoba laughed too.

"No problem, Koujaku." He said and laughed some more. He was about to say something else, when Mink's loud voice shocked him into silence. 

"You two, speaking Japanese in the back, stop." He said. Of course, Aoba and Koujaku ignored this, and continued to shit talk Mink for nearly the rest of class. 

When the bell rang, signalling it was time to go home, Aoba and Koujaku gathered their things and started towards the door. However, they were stopped by Mink as they were leaving. "So you two are Japanese?" He asked as they walked past.

"I am, born and raised," Aoba said with a smile, his accent as thick as ever. His English was never the best. "But Koujaku is American." 

"Howdy," Koujaku interjected.

"Mmm. Interesting. I lived in Japan for many years." Mink said. "A beautiful country, with an equally beautiful language." 

At that moment, Aoba and Koujaku turned to look at each other, their eyes wide. "You speak Japanese?" Aoba asked, his face turning red.

Mink looked Aoba right in the eyes when he replied with, "Fluently." 

Even though it was clear that Mink wasn't finished speaking, Aoba and Koujaku bolted out of the room. 

-

"I can't fucking believe this," Aoba said in Japanese, "The one person in this entire town besides us that speaks Japanese, is our teacher."

"I'm safe, you were the one that was ragging on the guy and saying weirdly explicit things about him," Koujaku replied, and Aoba turned to glare at him. 

"I'm fucked. He's going to put me in detention for the rest of my life." Aoba groaned and flopped onto his bed. "It was nice knowing you, Koujaku."

"Hey, at least he heard you talking about how hot he was and how you would fuck him. Maybe you'll get laid." Koujaku laughed, and Aoba yelled out in despair. 

"That's not funny!" He shouted. "I'm seriously boned right now." 

"Hey, maybe tomorrow during your inevitable detention you'll get boned even more," Koujaku laughed and winked. Aoba groaned, and hid his face in his pillows to hide the blush creeping up on his face. 

-

The next day rolled around quickly, much to Aoba's dread. 5th period American History rolled around even faster, and Aoba audibly groaned as he walked through the door and took his seat in the back of the room.

"Do you think I'm enlightened enough to be reincarnated into something cool?" Aoba asked through gritted teeth in Japanese. "Because I'm definitely going to die after this class."

"Maybe after Mink fucks you to death, you'll be enlightened enough to head straight to Nirvana," Koujaku raised his eyebrows suggestively. 

Aoba looked at Koujaku with shock. "That was weird, Koujaku, why did you have to say that?" He groaned, and suddenly the bell rang and Mink started to teach. 

For the first time in a while, Aoba actually paid attention in class. He didn't make snide comments to Koujaku, mostly out of fear of further punishment. It was weird, but it allowed Aoba to actually take more of Mink in.

He obviously had Native American blood in him. Most people in this area had a little bit of Native blood in them, but Mink was at least half, if not full blooded. There was a pendant in one of the braids on his hair, and Aoba wracked his brain trying to remember what it represented. 

Far more interesting than the pendants in his hair, however, were Mink's muscles. They were obvious from the moment he walked into class, but now that he was actually paying attention, Aoba could really get a good look at them. Mink's arms were nearly the size of Aoba's head. His abs were only slightly visible through his white dress shirt, but Aoba saw enough to make his eyes widen. The top button of his shirt was undone, teasing Aoba with the slightest glimpse of his sculpted chest. When Mink turned around to draw a flowchart of reasons behind America's entry into World War I, his back muscles strained against his shirt. Aoba let his eyes wander lower, and he nearly gasped when he saw Mink's perfect, tight ass.

A piece of paper landed on Aoba's desk. "May want to clean up that drool, Aoba," it said in Koujaku's neat kanji. Aoba panickedly wiped at his mouth, thankful that it was dry. He gave Koujaku a look that hopefully construed how unfunny that was, but Koujaku only smirked in response. 

-

Class ended far too quickly for Aoba's liking. When the bell rang, he tried to sneak out, hoping that Mink wouldn't try to finish their interrupted conversation from the day before. However, Aoba was never that lucky.

"Stay behind, Seragaki." Mink called after him. He pronounced Aoba's name almost perfectly, and it made Aoba wince. He wasn't lying about speaking Japanese. 

"I'll wait on you," Koujaku said as he passed by, and Aoba gave him a pitiful look.

"Koujaku was no angel either, you know." Aoba said in English, trying to combat the tense atmosphere that had been growing in intensity as more and more students left the class.

"I had no problem with what Agaki said. You, however, had some interesting commentary." Mink said, and the color drained from Aoba's face. It was silent for a moment. "Detention. One hour for every little remark you made. Yes, I kept count." 

Aoba opened his mouth to argue. He had a job, he had homework, he couldn't just spend an hour every day in detention for Buddha knows how long, no matter how hot the teacher was.

"No lip. You've already given me enough." Mink said, and from his stern tone it was obvious that Aoba wouldn't sway him. "I expect you in this classroom tomorrow no later than 3:30." 

Defeated, Aoba nodded. "Yes, sir." He said in his thick accent. Mink stared at him for a moment longer, then looked down to his paperwork. Aoba took it as his cue to leave, and he did.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fast update holla
> 
> idk if anyone noticed me take "underage" and "statutory rape" off the warnings, but yeah, decided to fight the good fight and make sure nothing sexual happened until aoba is legal

Aoba's first stop after school was to head to the Junk Shop where he worked part-time. "Oi, Haga!" He called, and his boss appeared at the counter almost immediately. 

"How can I help you, Aoba?" Haga asked, smiling. He was always such a cheerful guy.

"I need to change my hours. I've been given detention for the rest of my life and I won't be getting out of school until at least 4:30," Aoba said, hoping his English was alright. 

"What did you do, boy?" Haga laughed. 

"We have a new history teacher, and he, uh, is kind of a jerk. So I sat in the back and said bad things in Japanese about him for an entire class. Well, it turns out, he speaks Japanese." Aoba said. Haga laughed even more.

"That's just like you, Aoba! Yeah, I can change your hours. How does 5 to 8:30 on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and your regular schedule on Saturday sound?" Haga made some notes in his planner he kept in the pocket of his coveralls. 

"That's fine. I can handle closing." Aoba said. Haga nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, Haga." And with that, Aoba left the store. 

As soon as he was reunited with Koujaku outside the store, Aoba started to complain. "So I have to close now, because of asshole Mr. Mink I'm-Gay." He groaned, happy to switch back to Japanese.

"Maybe you should get a job like mine, I choose my own hours." Koujaku smiled smugly. 

"You're basically a hooker, Koujaku. You're not that good at cutting hair, those girls aren't paying you for that." Aoba rolled his eyes. 

"They pay me for the cut, whatever happens afterwards isn't any of your business," Koujaku said. 

"You say that now, but as soon as you bed your next customer, I know for a fact I'll be the first person you chase down to tell. 'Oh, Aoba, you wouldn't believe the woman I just fucked, my nose didn't even bleed this time!'" Aoba yelled dramatically, and Koujaku narrowed his eyes into a glare and furrowed his brow.

"That only happened one time!" Koujaku defended himself, and his face was bright red. "I told you that in confidence, and now you're just yelling it to the world!"

"Oh, come on. It's not like anyone here speaks Japanese." Feeling his inner asshole come out, Aoba looked at Koujaku slyly for a second, then yelled, "Agaki Koujaku has nosebleeds during sex!" 

Mortified, Koujaku slapped his hand over Aoba's mouth. "We're in public, you bastard! Stop embarrassing me!" His face was almost as red as the hoodie he wore. 

"Fine, fine. It's not like anyone understood what I said anyways." Aoba closed his eyes and turned to keep walking home, when suddenly, he faceplanted into something in his path.

Or rather, someone in his path. 

Aoba opened his eyes to see Mink towering over him. Suddenly his face was nearly as red as Koujaku's. Koujaku was, somehow, even redder.

"Control yourself, Seragaki." Mink said after a few moments of silence. Aoba muttered out a few apologies in Japanese, and all Koujaku managed out was a string of expletives. And for the second time in two days, Aoba and Koujaku bolted away from Mink.

-

"I cannot believe this. Am I cursed?" Aoba groaned. His face was still red from the sudden encounter with Mink.

"You think you're cursed!" Koujaku shouted. "I can't believe he heard that." He covered his face with his hands in shame.

"Do you think he heard my little remark about his name? Oh, I hope he doesn't put me in detention even longer." Aoba asked.

"Who fucking cares?! He knows about my nosebleed!" Koujaku exclaimed. 

"I'm never speaking Japanese again. That language just gets me in too much trouble." Aoba said, and sighed loudly. 

"You said that in Japanese," Koujaku grumbled. He seemed like he was never going to forgive Aoba. 

"No, the world will have to live with my thick accent and broken English." Aoba huffed. "Starting now," he added in English as an afterthought. 

Koujaku peeked out at Aoba from behind his hands. "Good luck, Mr. Hooked-On-Phonics." He laughed, and for a second, things seemed like they were going to be okay.

-

That feeling disappeared almost as soon as the final bell of the day rang the next day. "Good luck. Hope you brought lube." Koujaku whispered to Aoba, and left him alone in the back of the class. Soon enough, the entire classroom had emptied, leaving Mink and Aoba alone together.

"Move to the front, Seragaki." Mink said. "I'm not dealing with another hour of you sitting in the back and slacking." 

Aoba's eyes widened. He didn't want to be closer to Mink. He barely even wanted to be alone in the room with him, not after the things the older man had surely heard come from Aoba's mouth.

But he didn't argue or defy Mink. Aoba gathered his things and brought them to the desk in the front row furthest away from Mink. 

"Closer." Mink commanded. Aoba rolled his eyes. "I saw that. Do you want me to add another hour?"

"No, sir." Aoba said, and obediently moved his things to the desk directly in front of Mink. 

"You have piss poor grades, Seragaki. You're going to fix them." Mink said, and dropped a load of paperwork on Aoba's desk. 

"What is these?" Aoba noticed the flaw in his grammar as soon as it came out, and apparently Mink did too.

"There _are_ all the missing assignments you've refused to do since the beginning of the year. You're going to do them. You aren't going to have a free afternoon until you have an A in this class." Mink's voice was soft, but it still held authority. 

"There's no way I can finish all of these before graduation," Aoba took his time forming the sentence to make sure it was correct. 

"Then I recommend you get started immediately." Mink said, and tossed Aoba a thick textbook. After staring his student down for a moment, he walked to his desk and sat down. 

Detention was spent in complete silence, with nothing more than the sounds of pen on paper and the turning of pages interrupting it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shameless promo: nedcans.tumblr.com


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you cant tell, im majoring in history with a concentration in 20th century american history, so pls pardon my nerdiness, this chapter is pretty history nerdy
> 
> but hey, at least these two dorks are talking now

Aoba was tired. By the end of the week, he had finished 5 chapters of homework and was almost finished with chapter 6, the after effects of the American Revolution. He had also closed for Haga every night, meaning he rarely got home before 9.

Friday night, Tae noticed that something was wrong with her grandson. She caught on after Aoba kicked away his small dog, Ren, and immediately headed up the stairs to his room. 

"Seragaki Aoba!" Tae exclaimed, and Aoba stopped in his tracks.

"Yes, Granny?" He called. 

"What has gotten into you?" She asked, her tone angry.

"I'm sorry, Granny. I'm just tired lately. Haga's had me closing every night, and then I have an insane amount of homework..." Aoba explained. Tae looked at him critically.

"Hmph. You're sure that's it?" She asked, her eyes narrow.

"Promise. When have I lied to you, Granny?" Aoba asked, giving her a smile. 

"Far too often!" Tae yelled, and Aoba laughed. "Be nicer to your dog. And eat dinner!"

"Leave some in the oven for me, I'm taking a nap," Aoba said, and escaped up to his room.

-

On Monday afternoon, Aoba hit a wall. Not a physical wall, but a mental one. He had managed to bring himself up to chapter 7, The Constitution. But there was no way he could read any more about the subtle nuances of a 200 year old document outlining the rules of a country he wasn't even a natural citizen of.

"I need to take a break." Aoba said, almost surprising himself with how sternly he said that. 

"What?" Mink looked up from his paperwork. 

"I'm going to go crazy if I read another word about this overrated piece of paper. I'm not even a real American." Aoba put his head down on his desk.

"I'm as real of an American as they come. I say do your damn homework." Mink said harshly, and Aoba rolled his eyes and muttered something depreciating in Japanese. 

"What was that?" Shit, Mink heard him. 

"Uh, nothing." Aoba needed to cover himself. "Why did you decide to become a history teacher, anyways?" 

"Why do you want to know?" Mink asked. He didn't bother to look up to Aoba.

"I'm going to be in detention with you for like, 2 months? We should at least get to know each other." Aoba said. He was definitely trying to stall for as long as possible before Mink told him to get back to work. There was only ten or so minutes left in detention, and any amount of time Aoba could spend not working, he would take. He didn't expect Mink to actually give him an answer.

But he did. "I'm not interested in teaching. At least not this Eurocentric, white-washed shit." Mink spat the words out. "I'm only a sub. I'm leaving after the summer for DC. I've got a job waiting for me at the Native American History Smithsonian. I'm only here to get enough money to start myself off with."

"How'd you manage to land such a prestigious job?" Aoba asked.

"My grandfather was a Navajo code talker." Mink replied. 

Aoba cocked his head. "And that is?" He asked. Mink finally looked up from his papers to look at Aoba. The look on his face seemed to ask, 'Are you stupid?' Aoba felt a little ashamed for not knowing, and offered out a "I'm not American, sorry."

"Mmm. During World War II, the Navajo language was used by the military as a code. It's a hard language. I grew up speaking it, and I'm not entirely fluent in it." Mink said, and Aoba nodded. "The code was uncrackable. My grandfather was one of the Navajo people who read the code out. He always said that we never would have taken Iwo Jima without him." An ever so slight smile formed on Mink's lips.

"That's very interesting." Aoba said, shocked that his mysterious teacher told him all of that, and actually smiled. "My great-grandfather on my dad's side was a Japanese pilot."

"Kamikaze?" Mink asked. Aoba looked at him; he actually looked interested in what Aoba had to say. In the short time he had known Mink, he had never seen the man look this interested in anything before.

"Not all Japanese pilots were kamikaze, you know," Aoba laughed. Wait, did he just laugh while talking to the human embodiment of intimidation? "But, yes. He was kamikaze, but after his plane downed, he didn't die. He ended up committing seppuku right in front of the Allies as they came for him. That's what Dad told me, anyways."

"The Pacific Front always interested me." Mink said, still looking very intently interested.

"My great-grandmother on my mother's side actually fled to America at the start of the instability in Japan, and ended up getting put into a Japanese internment camp in 1942. She was, er, 15, I believe? When they let her and her family out, they went back to Japan and had a very anti-American sentiment about them. She must be looking down on us in shame for moving back here." Aoba said, and Mink nodded. 

"My ancestors can't be happy about my job I'm taking. After all the injustices the government committed against my people, and I'm taking a job with them?" Mink let out a sigh, and it caught Aoba off guard. Who knew Mink was actually capable of having emotions?

Aoba opened his mouth to make a comment about his own ancestors, but was interrupted by his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out, and saw that Tae was calling him. He grimaced, then looked to the clock. 4:50. How on earth did he manage to lose track of time that badly, especially while talking about history with Mink?

"Hi, Granny," Aoba switched to Japanese, and was suddenly painfully aware that Mink was about to hear him get yelled at by a small Asian woman who spoke no English. 

"Where the hell are you, Aoba?" Tae asked. She didn't sound very happy. 

"With Koujaku?" Lying seemed like the best option, considering Aoba still hadn't told his grandmother about his indefinite detention. 

"No, you aren't. He's at our house, eating my donuts. Can't you teach this boy how rude it is to just drop in like he does?" Tae asked. 

"I've tried, Granny, but you know how Koujaku is-" He had hoped he had gotten off the hook, but Tae interrupted him.

"Now, Seragaki Aoba, where are you?" She asked. 

"School. I needed special help to get my grades up in American History." Aoba said. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the truth either.

"American History is easy. I don't understand why you have such a hard time in it." Tae scoffed. Aoba started to defend himself, but was cut off. "Get home. I have dinner ready for you and Koujaku."

"Alright. See you soon." Aoba said and hung up. He looked to Mink, who had a small smirk on his face. "What? That woman is terrifying. It's your fault, too, keeping me late."

"You started the conversation," Mink responded. Wait, was he... teasing Aoba? Aoba's face went red.

"You kept it going." Aoba said. There was no way Mink was getting the last word here.

"But you started it." Mink said. He acted surprisingly childish. Aoba didn't know how to respond. 

"I'd keep arguing, but I have a 15 minute walk home. Tomorrow, though. I'll finish this." Aoba gave Mink a look of determination, and, shockingly enough, Mink let out a soft laugh.

"We'll see about that, Seragaki."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im snowed into my house, ive spent all these snow days writing copious amounts of gay fanfic
> 
> youre welcome

"So, the Ice King _does_ have feelings," Koujaku said after Aoba told him about detention while they sat around Aoba's room after dinner. "You know, I seem to recall someone saying that Mink wouldn't be worth anything more than a fuck unless he had some emotions."

Aoba's face reddened. He _did_ say that, but there was no way he would actually develop feelings for Mink. Mink was an asshole. "We had one conversation, Koujaku. From the way you talk about it, it makes me think you _want_  us together, for some perverted reason." 

 "After everything you said about Mink, you're calling me the pervert?" Koujaku teased, and Aoba groaned.

"Shut it, Agaki. I have homework, let me study." Aoba said, face growing darker. It was weird, thinking back to the stuff he said about Mink. It seemed sort of creepy now that he's actually held a conversation with the man. 

"Seragaki Aoba, doing homework? And history homework at that! You have it bad for that man." Koujaku laughed, continuing to tease Aoba. 

"Shut up! I can kick you out of my room, you know!" Aoba shouted, and Koujaku only laughed in response. 

-

There was a different atmosphere as Aoba moved to his detention desk the next day. 

"I finished the Constitution. It took all my willpower." Aoba told Mink, and handed him the chapter notes and questions. 

"You did this of your own volition?" Mink asked. He had a disbelieving look on his face. 

"Uh, yeah. I didn't have anything else to do last night." Aoba admitted. He didn't know why he felt so embarrassed about doing his homework. 

"These detentions must be paying off." Mink said. He sounded almost impressed. "Start the Early Presidency and War of 1812." 

"I actually already started." Aoba said. He read the chapter last night, and took his notes. He still had questions to finish, though. 

"You must have some ulterior motives, Seragaki." Mink laughed (he actually _laughed_.) "Even if you finish this work, you're still going to be in detention until you make up for that first day. Buttering me up won't change that."

"I told you, I just did it because I had nothing better to do," Aoba said. He didn't understand why his face was burning. He just did his basic responsibilities that he had neglected for a few months. 

"Hmph. Sure." Mink said, obviously not convinced. "Are you keeping up with your current assignments as well?"

"Uh, yeah. I've got that essay on political scandals in the 20's ready to turn in tomorrow." Aoba said. 

"About time," Mink laughed. Aoba narrowed his eyes at him. Just because the essay was a week late, didn't mean Mink could just laugh like that!

"By the way, did you get home unscathed yesterday? Your grandmother seemed upset." Mink changed topics, and it shocked Aoba. A week ago, Mink would barely speak to Aoba, and looked at him with mild hatred. And now he was asking about Aoba's home life? Something must have broke in the man. Or maybe they were just getting closer.

"She was fine. She's just cranky." Aoba laughed. He took out his questions and started working, keeping up small talk with Mink throughout the hour.

-

"Aoba, when are you going to admit to yourself that you are crushing hard on Mink?" Koujaku asked, after Aoba had opted to do more American History homework over talking to Koujaku. 

"I don't have a crush on Mink! I just want to get this finished." Aoba said, defensively. 

"You've covered a hundred years' worth of history in a week. On your own initiative. You hate history. Aoba, you are infatuated." Koujaku said. Aoba stared at him in disbelief. 

"No way." Aoba said. He shook his head.

"Yes way! Honestly, from all the special attention he gives you during class, I'd say he likes you too." Koujaku's smile grew in intensity. "He definitely likes you. You're as oblivious as ever, but I see how he looks at you. He looks at you the way girls look at me."

"Get over yourself, Koujaku. And there's no way the Ice King likes me. No way in hell." Aoba said. He knew his face was red.

"Seems like you've melted the Ice King. I've seen him give you a few looks of pure adoration. And he actually smiles at you. He's as head over heels for you as you are for him." Koujaku said.

"How can you say that so casually? Ugh. He doesn't like me and I don't like him. End of story." Aoba said, and that was the last thing said about it until the end of the night. 

-

"The lord is testing me," Aoba muttered to himself as he moved seats for detention the next day. Mink had decided on wearing a tight dress shirt, and even tighter pants. His hair was also pulled back into a bun, and he had a bit of stubble. Aoba hadn't seen the man ever look more attractive. 

More than that, after a bit of prodding from Koujaku, Aoba paid more attention to Mink during class, and Koujaku's words from the night before held truth. Mink took a few more glances at Aoba than he did anyone else, and his gaze was always intense when it fell on Aoba. He gave Aoba a few smiles throughout the class, and Aoba returned them, much to his own shock. To anyone paying attention, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the two of them had some sort of special relationship. 

The whole thought process going through Aoba's mind made him profoundly embarrassed.

"You seemed very interested in today's lesson, Seragaki. You normally don't ever pay attention like that." Mink said teasingly. 

"Yeah, I'm just, really interested in the underlying causes of the Great Depression." That didn't sound very convincing, so Aoba changed the subject by handing Mink his homework. "Here, I've got it finished up to the Antebellum period." 

"You're getting these done faster than I can grade them, Seragaki." Mink said, with the much softer tone of voice he had been using around Aoba since they talked Monday, when everything seemed to change between the two of them. "At this rate you'll be caught up long before March." 

"Maybe by then you'll have warmed up enough to let me get out of these petty little detentions," Aoba laughed and gave Mink a cute smile. Wait, why was he smiling cutely at Mink?

And why did Mink return the smile? 

Aoba shook his head. He didn't want to think about it just then. So he started his homework, talking to Mink through the entire hour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /shameless promo: nedcans.tumblr.com


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school got cancelled for the rest of the week, so im just gonna write for the next 6 days
> 
> maybe i can finish, who knows

After a few weeks, Aoba had caught up entirely, just like Mink had predicted. And, also like Mink had predicted, he wasn't going to get out of detention very easily at all. Though he had no more work to do, Mink still made him stay behind for one hour, every day.

Another person's prediction that came true was Koujaku's, though Aoba was far more reluctant to admit that. Aoba wasn't exactly sure when he fell for Mink, all he knew was that one day, Aoba took a look into Mink's golden eyes, and his heart fluttered and he found it hard to breathe. He couldn't believe Koujaku when his friend told him that Mink felt the same way towards Aoba, though. Mink was older, Mink was out of Aoba's league, and most of all, Mink was _not_ gay. He wad far too religious to be gay, Aoba knew it.

Koujaku still insisted that Mink was in absolute love with Aoba, though, and sometimes Aoba liked to entertain the notion that Mink actually was. He found meaning in the times where they locked eyes in class, and cherished each little smile that Mink gave to him. During class he daydreamed about dating Mink, kissing Mink- and, well, sometimes more than that.

But Aoba accepted that nothing more than daydreams would ever happen, and he was okay with that. 

-

One Friday evening in early March, Aoba swept the floor of the Junk Shop. Haga had left Aoba to close up when the store closed at 8, and that's what he was doing. He just had to sweep, and take out the trash, and he was free to go home. 

Suddenly, the bell over the front door rang, causing Aoba to jump. "We're closed!" He yelled, and put his broom down to go handle whatever customer had stumbled into the store. Had he forgotten to lock the door?

"The sign says you're open," the customer called back, and Aoba stopped. He knew that voice.

"Mink?" Aoba asked. 

There was a moment of silence before Aoba got an answer. "Seragaki?" It most definitely was Mink.

Aoba walked to the front of the store, and there stood Mink. "Er, we closed at 8. Did I forget to change the sign?" Aoba asked. 

Mink looked to the shop window. The neon sign proudly displayed that the store was open. "Apparently." He said, chuckling softly. 

"I swear, if I weren't the only other person who worked here, Haga would fire me in a heartbeat." Aoba sighed and switched off the sign. "Well, since you're already here, I'm not kicking out a customer. Can I help you?" 

"Yeah. Is this turquoise authentic?" Mink pointed out a wooden box filled with stones. "The dream catcher as well."

"The turquoise, yes. The dream catcher, we have no idea about. Someone brought it in decades ago, Haga said. No one has touched it since then. It's probably some cursed artifact." Aoba said, shrugging. "If you buy the turquoise I'll throw the dream catcher in for free."

"Alright," Mink said, and picked up the box and gently took the dream catcher off the wall. 

"Come with me and I'll ring you up." Aoba said, and walked towards the register. Mink followed. "Since you are such a valued customer at the Junk Shop, your discounted price is going to be $10." Aoba entered Mink in as a valued customer, and winked at him.

"I'm capable of paying the full price, Seragaki." Mink said, but Aoba hushed him.

"Think of it as repayment for helping me get an A in history." Aoba smiled brightly, and gave Mink a small bag for his items. "Have a nice evening!" 

Aoba expected Mink to leave after he bought the stones, but he didn't. He stood at the register and stared at Aoba as he picked his broom back up and went back to sweeping. "I didn't know you worked here." He said after a moment.

"Yeah, I have for 2 years," Aoba responded. Satisfied with his sweeping job, he put the broom in the corner and started gathering up the trash. He glanced over- and Mink was still there. Why?

"Uh, Mink? I'm clocking out. You have to leave, sorry. We open tomorrow at 10, if you're interested in our wares." Aoba said, tying the trashbag. 

Mink grunted in response, and Aoba went to the back to throw out the trash and clock out. When he got back, Mink was examining a large knit rug tossed on the shelf. Aoba looked at him. "Mink. I'm leaving. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here," he said, and Mink smiled. 

"You said you just clocked out?" Mink looked to Aoba. The way his gaze hit him made Aoba's knees weak. He knew it was just his silly crush making him imagine things, but he thought that it was almost loving. Aoba nodded. "Do you have anywhere to be after this?" 

What a weird question. But Mink was a weird person. "Er, no? Why?" Aoba asked.

"I can't believe I'm asking this, but, do you maybe want to go get coffee or something?" Mink asked, and almost immediately, Aoba's eyes widened and his face went blood red. 

"I-is that okay?" He managed out. His heart was beating at a thousand miles an hour, and he vaguely felt like throwing up, but luckily he suppressed the urge.

"It's fine. It's only coffee. As a sort of repayment for letting me into here after closing." Mink said. Aoba was internally screaming, but he cracked a smile.

"Sure, I'd love to. Let me get my coat from the back." He had no idea how he managed to sat that so smoothly. He had no idea how he wasn't passed out on the floor, actually. _Mink asked him out to coffee._  

As soon as he entered the break room, safely out of Mink's view, he did a little happy dance and pulled out his phone. He texted Tae that he would be a little late, and opened up a message to Koujaku. The only thing he sent to him was a message that simply said 'KOUJAKU.' Koujaku would understand. Aoba turned his phone off, not wanting to be interrupted, and grabbed his coat. He was nearly vibrating with happiness, but forced himself to calm down and take deep breaths.

"It's only coffee. It's probably nothing." Aoba told himself. But he couldn't help his mind from screaming back, _But coffee is a start!_ With one last deep breath, Aoba opened the door back to the shop, and gave Mink a huge smile. "Ready!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is long and cheesy and maybe a bit ooc and cliche but omg guys the plot is picking up

Aoba knew Mink well enough to know that he wasn't the big, intimidating monster he seemed to be, but that still didn't prepare him for the sight that was Mink's car.

It was an old fashioned Volvo 200. It was at least 20 years old, and nearly every square inch of the back of it was covered in bumper stickers. Quite a few caught Aoba's eye; there was a sticker for every democratic presidential nominee since Walter Mondale. He had a "Ready for Hillary" sticker, one that said "Sure, you can trust the government; ask an Indian!" and lots in that vein. Lots of environmental stickers, an "Occupy Phoenix" sticker, and plenty of stickers advertising all the places the car had travelled to.

Aoba stopped in his tracks. "Mink," he said. Mink turned around, and looked at Aoba. "You're a hippie." Aoba was in shock for a moment, then started to laugh.

"I'm not a hippie. I just care for the Earth and her people." Mink shrugged. 

"And that's why you went to Occupy?" Aoba giggled. 

"If you don't like it, we can take your car. And where is that?" Mink asked, his voice almost bordering on sassy. 

"I'm not complaining. I'm glad you're a hippie rather than some crazy gun-nut," Aoba said. Mink unlocked the doors and Aoba climbed into the passenger seat.

"You aren't going to find too many Natives who favor the Republican party." Mink laughed, and started the car. 

Aoba laughed back, and was almost calm before he realized exactly what was going on. Mink was taking him for coffee. He was sitting in Mink's car, driving towards a cafe. A lot of people would consider what they were doing going on a date.

Mink was taking Aoba on a date.

As soon as the thought passed through Aoba's mind, his breathing sped up. He, Seragaki Aoba, was going on a date, with Mink Begay, the hot substitute teacher (who just a month ago hated Aoba's guts.)

"Are you okay there, Aoba?" Mink asked.

"I'm fine- did you just call me Aoba?" If Aoba was fine before, there was no way he was fine now. He had never heard Mink call anyone by their first name before. Aoba was some sort of special case to Mink. It made his heart skip a beat.

"It's after school. It's weird to call you by your last name now." A smile played on Mink's lips, and Aoba thought for a moment that he'd love to kiss them. Aoba stopped those thoughts before they had time to bloom into anything more, and nodded to Mink.

It didn't take long for the two of them to end up at a small cafe. Aoba had never been to it, or really ever even noticed it, but as soon as they were inside, he realized why Mink liked it so much. It was full of Native American decor, and a large chalkboard told customers that everything sold there was organic and locally sourced, or fair trade certified. "Hippie," Aoba teased, but Mink didn't seem to mind. 

The woman working the counter looked Native, but she didn't seem to be as full blooded as Mink. Her name tag red 'Tsintah.' Mink started speaking to her in a strange tongue, and after a moment Aoba realized he must be speaking Navajo. 

It was a beautiful language, Aoba decided. It flowed beautifully off of Mink and Tsintah's tongues. Though he had no idea what the two of them were saying, Aoba was mesmerized. He almost didn't notice when Mink started speaking to him. "What would you like?"

"I'm not sure. It's all so expensive, I only have 5 dollars..." Aoba said. 

"I'm buying. Do you prefer coffee or tea?" Mink asked. 

"Coffee," Aoba replied. He didn't realize what it meant when Mink said he was buying until the words left his mouth; it really was a date. Aoba's eyes went wide and his face felt hot.

Mink nodded, and said something to Tsintah in Navajo. He moved to a table, and Aoba followed. Before long, two cups of coffee in white mugs were delivered to them.

Mink took a mug and raised it to his lips. "Aoba." He said after taking a sip.

"Mink," Aoba replied. He took a sip of his own coffee. It was amazing. It was only a simple cup of coffee, with some sugar to sweeten it, but it was the best coffee Aoba had ever had. He didn't know if it was because of the circumstances, or if it was just truly good coffee. Maybe it was both.

"You've been staying after with me for a month now, but I still barely know anything about you. Tell me more about yourself." Mink requested. Alarms went off in Aoba's head- this was so totally a date.

"Only if you promise to tell me more about you, too." Aoba asked. He didn't know how he was even coherent. Mink smirked.

"That sounds like a fair trade." He said, and took another drink of coffee.

Aoba nodded, and put his own cup down. "I was born in Japan. That much you should already know. I moved to California when I was 10. It was my parent's doing, really. They were bigger hippies than you are." Aoba paused for a second to laugh. "It was me, my parents, and Granny. I was so scared when I moved here. I barely spoke any English, and I had left all my friends behind in Japan. I was about as out of my element as a 10 year old could possibly be."

Aoba wasn't sure how he was telling Mink all this so calmly. He never really talked about his past to anyone. It was an embarrassing topic for him, considering how awkward he was when he first came to America. But Mink was listening intently, and it made things feel okay for Aoba.

"When I was 13, things got a little rough. My parents left to travel the world, and they, uh, never came back. Granny raised me after that." Aoba said, wincing a little as he remembered how painful it was for his parents to leave. "But I think they're happier traveling than they were tied down. I know they'll come back one day, though."

Mink nodded, and took a sip of coffee. "And how did you end up in Arizona?"

"Uh, that's kind of embarrassing," Aoba said, but Mink's intense gaze nearly hypnotized him into continuing. "I realized I was gay when I was 13. You must already know that, from that first day with Koujaku."

Mink nodded, and Aoba kept speaking. "I came out at school, which is something a middle schooler should never do. I was bullied pretty badly. When Granny had the opportunity to move to Arizona to take a medicinal healing job, she took it. I stopped getting bullied, I became best friends with the only other Japanese kid I've met in America, and well, here I am." 

Mink took a long drink of coffee, and nodded again. "You have an interesting story, Aoba." 

"You said you would tell me about yourself, now." Aoba asked. He was excited to learn more about Mink. Everything he knew about the man so far was so interesting. 

"My life is a little more tragic than yours, I'll warn you now." Mink said, and it was Aoba's turn to nod. 

"I was born on a small Navajo reservation. I lived there until I was 18. When I was 18... it was destroyed in a fire. Everyone I had ever known and loved perished." Mink said, and his voice strained a bit. Aoba's jaw dropped, but Mink kept talking. 

"I was attending college at a different reservation when this happened. When I heard the news, I went a bit crazy with grief. I got the thought in my head that the fire was started intentionally. I... took it upon myself to find the culprit. I followed imaginary leads to Japan. Though I knew deep down that it would turn up with nothing, I kept searching. I did anything I could to try and find this man, this ghost, that destroyed my home."

Aoba was so enthralled with the story, he couldn't stop himself from asking, "What caused you to give it up?" 

"I got involved with a gang in Japan. Some wannabe Yakuza. When I almost went to prison, I realized... even if someone destroyed my home, killed my family on purpose, it wasn't up to me to right that wrong. I came back after 5 years in Japan. I dedicated my life to my culture and its history."

Mink looked solemn. Aoba didn't know why, but he smiled. "You're very strong, Mink." 

"Thank you." Mink didn't meet Aoba's eyes, but somehow Aoba knew he was sincere. 

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while. They were taking in the new information they had about each other. They drank from their now lukewarm coffee, and occasionally looked up to make eye contact and smile.

Eventually, Tsintah called out to Mink and told him something in Navajo. He looked to his watch, nodded, and said something back. He stood up and took the two empty coffee mugs to the counter. Aoba looked to Mink for some sort of clue as to what was happening. Was date night over?

"The cafe is closing, we'll have to leave." Mink said, and Aoba nodded and stood up. He stretched and looked to the clock on the wall. It was almost 9.

"You respect their closing time a lot more than you do the Junk Shop's," Aoba teased, and Mink smiled. The two walked out to Mink's car, and Aoba got into the passenger seat. 

"I can take you home, now. I hope you enjoyed your coffee." Mink said, and Aoba hummed in approval. "Unless, and I mean nothing more with this, you wanted to come to my house. I have more coffee and a movie about Navajo code talkers you may be interested in." 

Aoba perked up and nodded before he even fully processed what Mink had said. Date night was most definitely not over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /shameless promo: nedcans.tumblr.com


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im a tease honestly  
> this was gonna be longer but its already so long  
> (also i haven't kissed anyone in like 3 years so apologies if the kiss seems a little off)

Aoba was sure he was vibrating with excitement as Mink pulled into his driveway. The car door squeaked when he opened it a little too roughly, but he didn't pay it any mind. He was about to go into Mink's house. Mink invited him home with him after he took him on a date.

If Koujaku was there, he would be making perverted remarks. But honestly, Aoba didn't have any dirty thoughts about what was happening. He was so excited to just be spending time with Mink, and that there was a possibility that Mink felt the same way towards him, he couldn't think coherently about very much at all.

Once inside, Aoba took a moment to look around Mink's home. It was small, but filled with trinkets and mementos. It looked lived in and cozy; Aoba decided that he liked it very much. He sat on Mink's sofa, and Mink left to get the two of them more coffee. He felt at ease in Mink's home, even though he had only been there for a few minutes. 

Mink returned with coffee. He handed a black mug to Aoba, and kept a worn out white mug for himself. He opened the cabinet under his TV, and pulled out a movie. "I hope you enjoy this," he said, and put it into the TV.

"Your people seem very interesting, I'm sure I will." Aoba responded, and Mink sat down next to him. He sat very close to Aoba, and it didn't go unnoticed by the younger man. Aoba could feel Mink's body heat on him, and it made his heart flutter.

A quarter of the way through the movie, Mink got up to get them more coffee. It took Aoba a moment to realize that Mink had gotten up, he was so enthralled by the movie. However, when Mink returned, and put the mugs down in front of them on the coffee table, Aoba definitely noticed. 

Because Mink had stretched out a long arm to drape over the couch, and, consequently, Aoba's shoulders. All the interest he had in the movie left him, and the only thing he could focus on was not screaming. His face went blood red, his heart sped up, and he was even shaking slightly. 

"Are you alright, Aoba?" Mink asked. Aoba could feel Mink's gaze resting on him, but was sure if he tore his eyes from the screen to meet it, he would pass out. 

"I-I'm fine," Aoba managed.

"Really? You look a little red. And you're shaking like a leaf." There was a peculiar tone to his voice. Was Mink teasing him?

"Yeah, I'm fine." Somehow, Aoba was able to sound a little more sure of himself this time.

Mink chuckled, and then they didn't talk for a moment. Aoba tried to force himself to keep his eyes on the screen, because he knew Mink was still looking at him. 

"You know, when I first started your detentions, I didn't plan on bringing up quite a few of your lewder comments you made about me," Mink said. Aoba immediately went redder as soon as he realized what Mink was implying. "But I think we have a certain level of comfort after tonight, and I think it's fine for me to address them now.

Aoba's mind was in a frenzy. No way was Mink going to bring up the perverted things he said on the first day of class! Aoba felt like he was going to have a panic attack. "I seem to recall you saying I didn't have emotions. Do you still think that way?" 

"No, sir," Aoba stuttered, and immediately wanted to punch himself. 'Sir?' What was this, a bad porno? Mink noticed Aoba's turmoil, and laughed.

"So you think I'm worth more than just a fuck, now." Mink's gaze didn't leave Aoba when he said that. Aoba knew he was watching Aoba's face for any changes of emotions. Well, all he was going to get was wide-eyed mortification. 

"I-I guess who could say that, I guess I would... really like that." The last part was a near whisper. Mink chuckled, and the arm that was draped over the couch was placed directly on Aoba's shoulders.

"What if I said I would like that as well?" Mink asked, and Aoba had no idea how he was being so cool about this. All Aoba could manage to do after that was let out a slightly squeaky noise that hopefully conveyed what he meant to Mink.

"What was that?" Mink asked, and Aoba knew from the tone of his voice that Mink was asking that just to mess with him.

"I- yes, I'd like that, a lot-" Aoba sputtered and stammered over his words. He was a mess, and would be embarrassed if he was able to process emotions very well just then.

Aoba heard Mink chuckle and felt the weight on the couch shift slightly. He didn't know what the older man was doing, as he had kept his eyes directly on the screen for the entire time.

"Look at me, Aoba." Mink requested. Aoba didn't do it, it was like he had forgotten how to move. After a few seconds, a large, callused hand was on his cheek, moving Aoba's head so he could meet Mink's gaze.

Mink was smiling, and looked at Aoba with adoring eyes. Aoba was screaming in his mind, but he somehow managed to keep a little bit of coolness and stay silent.

"I'm want to kiss you. Is that okay?" Mink said. 

Aoba's heart was beating so fast he thought that he was surely having a heart attack. He opened his mouth, wanting to scream _Yes!_  

But what came out instead was "But you're not gay." And Aoba wanted to punch himself. Of course he was gay- he had just asked Aoba to kiss him!

Mink laughed, and stroked Aoba's cheek with the hand still on his face. "No, Aoba, I'm definitely gay."

"Oh, uh, okay, sorry. Uh... you can kiss me." Aoba said it softly, and he wasn't sure if he said it entirely in English. 

"What was that?" Mink asked, a smile playing on his lips. He seemed to want Aoba to be utterly mortified. 

Aoba took a deep breath. "Kiss me. Please." 

And Mink did. His warm lips pressed against Aoba's, and he gave him a soft, chaste kiss. 

It made Aoba melt. He could smell Mink, and Aoba thought he smelled like cinnamon. He could feel Mink. For that moment in time, Mink was his. 

Of course, it was over way too fast. When Mink pulled away, Aoba was all smiles. Almost all of his anxiety melted with that kiss. "Wow," he said. Mink nodded. "I really like you, Mink." Mink nodded again. 

"I feel the same way." He said. 

"Can I kiss you again?" Aoba asked, and Mink nodded. Aoba grinned, and pressed his lips to Mink's. 

There was a different energy to this kiss. It was more passionate, more demanding. Somehow they changed positions, and Mink ended up on his back with Aoba on top of him. Mink wrapped his arms around Aoba, and Aoba had his hands on Mink's chest. 

Aoba jumped a bit when he felt Mink's tongue at his lips, asking for permission to enter. But he opened his mouth, and allowed Mink's tongue in. Mink tasted sweet, just like how he smelled. After a while, Aoba pulled away to catch his breath, and pressed his forehead to Mink's. 

"I really, really like you." Aoba said, and pressed his lips to Mink's neck. 

"Calm down there, tiger. I told you, I meant nothing more than coffee when I invited you over." Mink pushed Aoba away. 

"Oh, come on," Aoba pouted. He was a hormonal teenager, after all. 

"Not on the first date," Mink laughed. Aoba seemed to understand after that. He could wait. He smiled and rested his head on Mink's broad chest, and they finished the movie in a content silence.

 

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not sure if i like this chapter or not, im not gonna lie its a filler lol  
> ill make up for it next chapter i promise you guys  
> oh and thanks everyone who has given kudos and commented! the dmmd fandom is fantastic, this is a day old and already more popular than most my hetalia fics <3

Mink drove Aoba home after the movie finished. He pulled into Aoba's driveway, and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you Monday," Mink said with a smile.

"See you then," Aoba replied, and returned the smile. He checked the doors and windows of his house to make sure Granny wasn't watching, and pulled Mink into a kiss. It was chaste, but left the taste of Mink on Aoba's lips.

With that, Aoba got out of the car, offering Mink a small wave. Mink smiled, and pulled out of the driveway. Aoba was all smiles as he walked into his house. 

At least, he was until he heard a loud yell. "Seragaki Aoba!" Shit, Tae did not sound happy. 

"Yes, Granny?" Aoba yelled back.

"Do you know what time it is?!" Tae came from the living room into the foyer. 

"Er, no." Aoba replied. 

"Past your curfew! Where were you? Why didn't you answer your phone?" She demanded.

"I was on a date, Granny. We went to a cafe and saw a movie. I turned off my phone, I'm sorry." Aoba explained, and Tae seemed to calm down once Aoba told her where he was.

"Hmph. You're just like your mother. She always stayed out past her curfew with Naine. And that's how we got you." Tae cracked a smile at her own joke. "You weren't having sex with this man, were you?"

"Granny, no!" Aoba yelled; he did not want to discuss his sex life, or lack thereof, with Tae. Tae just smiled. 

"Koujaku was here, I'm sorry to say he ate your dinner." Tae told Aoba as he walked to the stairs. 

"That's fine, I'm not hungry," Aoba said, and bounded up the stairs. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. He was dying to tell Koujaku about that night. 

He waited until he had fallen into his bed to turn his phone back on. He had several missed calls from Tae, but he ignored those and opened his messages to Koujaku. 

There were a lot of new messages in the chat. Koujaku didn't apparently take kindly to Aoba texting him like he did and giving him no information. 'AOBA' 'AOBA WHAT' 'TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED OR SO HELP ME' 'IM COMING OVER' 'SERAGAKI AOBA WHERE AT YOU' and many more just like that. Aoba laughed, and sent another 'KOUJAKU' to his friend.

There was a reply almost immediately. 'AOBA' was what it read.

Aoba smiled and sent another 'KOUJAKU.' He was too excited to formulate an actual reply just then.

'DAMN IT AOBA DON'T START THIS' Koujaku sent. Aoba pondered for a moment over what to send, and eventually just decided to send a simple message.

'KOUJAKU YOU WERE RIGHT.'

'IM OFTEN RIGHT, BE MORE SPECIFIC' came back immediately. 'WAIT SHIT DO YOU MEAN MINK'

'YES' Aoba sent.

'I'm coming over right fucking now.' Koujaku said, and stopped replying to Aoba's messages. 

-

Koujaku lived 15 minutes away from Aoba. Somehow, he managed to get into Aoba's room in 5 minutes. 

"You tell me everything," he demanded, huffing and panting. He must have ran to Aoba's house.

"Okay, so he came into work, right? Right as I was about to clock out. He bought something, and we kind of made awkward small talk for a while before I was just like, look, it's past closing, you have to leave so I can clock out. And he looked at me. And he asks me if I want to go get coffee with him." Aoba said once Koujaku had caught his breath and flopped onto the bed next to Aoba. He spoke in English, on the off chance that Tae was eavesdropping. 

"Oh my god," Koujaku said. He seemed enthralled. 

"Oh, oh it gets better. So I get into his car- did you know he went to Occupy and is voting for Hillary Clinton? Anyways." Aoba took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. Reliving his night was almost as exciting as living it. "So he takes me to this weird little cafe. It's a Navajo cafe or something. Everything there is organic, and the milk is locally farmed, and the coffee beans weren't picked by Columbian slave children. So it's super expensive. He buys me a coffee that had to cost around 10 dollars." 

"That was a date. Aoba, he took you on a date!" Koujaku exclaimed. 

"Oh, I know. We left the cafe at 9, and went to his house." Aoba raised his eyebrows suggestively. He wasn't going to lie about what happened, but it would be fun to mess with Koujaku. 

Koujaku's jaw dropped. "Aoba, you slut!" He exclaimed jokingly.

"We didn't do anything. We watched a movie." Aoba explained, but Koujaku didn't look convinced. "And around halfway through the movie, he puts his arm around me. And he tells me that he likes me. And then, he asks if he can kiss me." 

Koujaku gasps audibly. Aoba grins a wicked grin and continues. "Things get a little steamy and he pulls away and tells me not on the first date. And he drove me home."

"When he said not on the first date, he definitely implied there was going to be more dates. Aoba, you're dating the hot teacher!" Koujaku shook Aoba by the arm excitedly. "Did he give you his number? Call him right now."

"No, uh, we haven't traded numbers yet. Maybe I'll slip mine to him on Monday." Aoba admitted. "Why would you want me to call him with you here anyways? Weirdo."

Koujaku only laughed. "Aoba finally has a boyfriend," he sang in Japanese. He grinned at Aoba when he turned red and tried to hush him. "Aren't I the perfect matchmaker?"

Though he was embarrassed on the outside, Aoba secretly was thankful for Koujaku. It was his all his fault that this happened to begin with. Because of that, he felt like he should allow Koujaku to gloat about his matchmaking skills, at least for the time being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /shameless promo: nedcans.tumblr.com


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is pointless I just wanted mink to be mad about cultural appropriation  
> expect actual plot next chapter

Aoba had grown fond of the time he had spent after class with Mink, almost to the point where he had forgotten it was supposed to be detention. Because of this, he was met with a shock when a girl stomped angrily into Mink's classroom at 3:30.

"Er, Mink? Who's she?" Aoba asked. He spoke in Japanese, hoping to spare the girl from the embarrassment of being talked about. 

"She is a disrespectful little bitch." Mink answered in slow, slightly flawed Japanese. Aoba's eyes widened. He knew Mink was apt to speak his mind, but that caught him off guard. "Hipster bitch walked into my first period with a fucking Native American headdress on. Complete with warpaint. I don't deal with white girls appropriating native culture and spreading stereotypes. I told her it was disrespectful and to take it off. She starts spouting the most racist shit I've ever heard."

Aoba winced, and looked at the girl. She had moccasins on, and huge turquoise plugs in her ears. Her leggings had a faux-Navajo print on them. Aoba could see the faint outline of the warpaint that had been washed off and saw costume feathers sticking out of her purse. They were nothing like the beautiful, natural feathers that Mink wore in his hair. She looked undeniably pissed off.

"Maybe she was trying to flirt with you," Aoba teased. It only earned him a glare from Mink. "Ah, sorry. Anyways, I wanted to ask you-" 

"Can you stop speaking Korean or whatever and just give me my punishment already?" The girl interrupted and demanded. 

Aoba turned around and looked at her incredulously. "I'm talking shit about you, so unless you want me to drag you in a language you understand, let me keep speaking Japanese." The girl just looked matter.

"Speak English! I don't mind. It's America after all, we speak English and not that ching chong shit." Aoba's eyes widened and he turned back to Mink. Mink, somehow, looked even more pissed.

"Fuck you. Two hours of detention. And I'm writing you up for using racial slurs." Mink nearly growled. "Oh, and, since this is America, after all, where we don't speak foreign languages, if you'd like to speak to me for the remainder of your time here, you'll have to do it in Navajo."

"But-" the girl tried to argue.

Mink said a sentence in Navajo. The girl sighed angrily, and seemed to finally leave the two of them alone.

"So, as I was saying, I should probably pay you back for that coffee." Aoba continued in Japanese, ignoring the audible sigh from the girl.

"You don't have to pay me back." Mink said. He still sounded upset about what had just happened.

"Maybe I could take you on a date, and pay for you." Aoba suggested. "Maybe, after you finish punishing this one?"

"Not today." Mink explained. Aoba hummed sadly and looked at his feet. "But maybe tomorrow. Do you think you can find a place suitable to my tastes?"

Immediately cheering up, Aoba grinned and nodded. "I'll be sure to find a restaurant where the cows are fed only the best grass, and are slaughtered through ritual seppuku!"

"Remember that I'm vegan," Mink said. 

"Eh? Oh, alright. I'll find a vegan restaurant." Aoba wasn't sure how he would do that, considering very few people in their small town knew what vegan even meant, but he would certainly try. If he couldn't find one, he resolved to make Mink his own meal.

Mink smiled. "I'm not actually vegan, I just wanted to see what you would say. Anywhere that sells organic food will be fine."

"As if that would be any easier!" 

"If you can't handle my dietary restrictions, you can't handle dating me."

"Fine, fine. Tomorrow, after detention, prepare for the meal of your life." Aoba smiled, and Mink returned it.

The two made small talk for a while, until the girl spoke up and interrupted them, once again. "An hour is up, can I go home now?" 

Mink said something in Navajo. He really wasn't giving up. "I think he said, I can go home, but you have another hour." Aoba 'translated.' In reality, Mink was probably insulting her.

The girl slammed her head on her desk dramatically. Aoba and Mink both laughed. As Aoba was about to leave, he turned to face Mink. "Do you think I could have your phone number? So if I find a restaurant I can ask you if it's up to par."

Mink seemed to think for a moment, before nodding and writing something onto a slip of paper. Aoba took it and smiled. "Thanks. Bye!" 

"Goodbye, Aoba."

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> does koujaku ever go home? the answer to this is no  
> also, kudos to you guys, im pretty sure this fic has more kudos than any of my other fics, and that means the world to me (it also means im gonna keep writing fast to keep you guys giving me more kudos and stroking my ego ;))

When Aoba got home, Koujaku was waiting for him in his living room. 

"You have a home, you know." Aoba said as he threw his backpack onto the ground. 

"Your front door has a lock, you know." Koujaku responded. Aoba just glared. Tae was always on him about locking the door, but he always forgot.

"You'd still find a way in." Aoba said with a huff, and Koujaku laughed. 

"You know me so well." He said, and then gave Aoba a peculiar look. "So, what happened with Mink today? Tell me everything."

"Well, nothing really happened because there was this really racist, hipster girl in detention with us. And she was just awful, let me tell you." Aoba groaned at the memory. 

"Let me guess. Stacey Smith? She's in my fashion marketing class." Koujaku offered.

"Why do you- whatever. I don't know who she was, it's not important. What is important, is this." Aoba pulled the slip of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Koujaku.

"I know this isn't your bank total. And if it was math, it would be a little over your head. Meaning... this is a phone number." Koujaku's face warped into a wicked grin. "Aoba, you sly dog! Call him!"

"No, no, not right now. He's still at school. I'll try texting him, though." Aoba entered the number into his phone and sent a message saying 'Mink?'

Koujaku kept grinning, and Aoba laughed. "If I can find a restaurant suitable to his tastes, he says he'll go out with me tomorrow."

"Seragaki Aoba, you have got a second date." Koujaku sounded more excited than Aoba. 

"It's just a date, it doesn't mean anything." Aoba tried to stay grounded. He didn't want to get his hopes up too high just yet, but it was hard not to. Mink bought him coffee, took him home and kissed him. Mink said that he liked Aoba, and now Aoba had his number. This had to mean something good, right?

"Of course it means something! Second date means second base," Koujaku wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. 

"I don't even know what that means." Aoba said. "We're both guys."

"You're gonna touch the butt, Aoba." Koujaku still had a grin on his face. "Well, more likely, he's going to touch your butt. He doesn't seem like a guy who wants his butt touched."

"Did you just insinuate that I was a uke?" Aoba mocked an offended tone.

"Well, if the shoe fits," Koujaku teased. Aoba opened his mouth to say something back, but was interrupted by his phone buzzing. His heart sped up, Mink must be texting him back! Koujaku looked excited as well. Aoba quickly opened up his phone and went to his messages. 

His heart sank when he saw what it was. "Granny wants to know if you're staying for dinner." He asked Koujaku. 

"And just how does she know I'm here?"

"Koujaku, you are always here."

"True. And I always stay for dinner." Koujaku grinned widely and Aoba relayed the information to Tae.

-

An hour later, after Tae came home and Aoba and Koujaku had moved up to Aoba's room to 'study' (or, more realistically, talk and play online until Tae called them down for dinner,) Aoba's phone buzzed again. He was less excited this time, but still opened up his messages hurriedly. 

'Aoba? I'm sorry, I left my phone in my car.' It was from Mink. Aoba immediately threw his phone on his bed and shrieked in excitement. 

"Was that him?" Koujaku asked, and Aoba nodded. "Well answer him!"

Aoba did. He picked up his phone and quickly typed out a response. 'It's fine! How did your detention go?'

'I try my hardest not to be a stereotype, but I think I might have to go home and drink.' Mink responded. Aoba laughed. 

'That bad? Maybe tomorrow will make up for it.' 

'I don't think anything could make up for it.'

'Not even spending time with your favorite student?'

'Okay, maybe that could make up for it.'

Aoba grinned, and Koujaku noticed immediately. "What is it?" He tried to look over at Aoba's screen. "Is he sending you dick pics?" 

"What? Koujaku- straight boys are so fucking weird." Aoba was blushing. He doubted Mink would ever be so forward. 

"It's gay boys too! Haven't you ever been on Grindr?" Koujaku defended himself. 

"No, why the hell have _you_  been on Grindr?" Sometimes Aoba just didn't understand the things Koujaku said. 

"What? Shit- I haven't been. It was a friend relaying experiences to me." It was Koujaku's turn to blush.

"I'm the only gay kid in the entire school. Is there anything you want to tell me?" Aoba teased. 

"My hypothetical experiences on Grindr aren't important- you have a new message." Koujaku pointed out. Aoba hadn't even noticed that his phone had buzzed in his hands.

'So have you found a restaurant that I would be willing to try, yet?' Mink had sent. He must have gotten tired of waiting for Aoba to reply.

'No, not yet. I'm looking, though.' That was a lie, but Mink didn't know that. 

"Hey, Koujaku. You get around more than me. Do you know of any place that my hippie, strictly organic, potential boyfriend could eat at?" Aoba asked.

"I dated this vegan chick from Washington last year, and she was a lot like that. She made us drive all the way to Phoenix to eat." Koujaku said. 

"Ha, no. Anything in town?" Aoba asked. 

"Definitely not." 

"I could make him dinner."

"You do this man to like you, don't you?"

Aoba gave Koujaku an offended look. "How fucking rude."

Aoba's phone buzzed. 'I know of a restaurant, it's fine.' Mink had said.

'But I wanted to pick it out :(' he typed, but realized that sound childish. He erased the message and sent 'That'll be fine.'

Aoba smiled. "Mink knows a place. I have a second date." Koujaku grinned and bounced a bit.

"My boy is growing up!"

-

The next day passed far too slowly for Aoba's liking. He was excited about what was going to happen after school, and was hoping he could convince Mink to let him skip detention just this once, but, much to his dismay, the girl from yesterday stomped in once again at 3:30.

"Really, again? I thought our after school time was special." Aoba complained in Japanese. 

"I would much rather prefer if I only had to discipline you." Mink said. Aoba raised his eyebrows and grinned. Discipline him? That sounded like something straight out of a porno. "Don't read into my words like that, Seragaki." 

Aoba smiled and took his seat in front of Mink's desk. "Don't tell me she's going to be a regular."

"No. I don't have the patience for that. If her act isn't cleaned up by the end of this week I'm getting her switched into another teacher's class." Mink stopped, and looked at the girl. "Take that dream catcher off your neck. They are not jewelry." He told her in English. 

"You have one in your hair." She answered defiantly. 

"This is not a dream catcher, you are not a Native American. You are white. Embrace your own culture. Put on some Uggs and go to Starbucks. Stop badly appropriating mine." Mink did not sound happy.

"I'm 1/16th Hopi. It's my culture too." The girl said. Mink sighed angrily. 

"If I saw someone who said they were 1/16th Japanese walking around in a kimono and Geisha makeup, I would probably punch them in the face," Aoba told her. It wasn't even his culture she was appropriating and he was starting to get upset. 

"Then you are very narrow-minded." The girl answered.

"Alright. Fuck it. Get out of my classroom. I'm done with your racist shit. Go talk to your counselor and make them switch you to someone else's US History class." Mink said in a demanding voice. The girl looked torn between arguing and leaving. Eventually, she decided on leaving. "Gods, I hate her. Would you like to leave?" 

It had only been 30 minutes, but Aoba didn't mind leaving early. He gathered his things and left the building with Mink. 

As soon as Mink was in his car, he reached over Aoba and got into his glove box. He pulled out a small wooden box, and Aoba was confused until he opened it. Inside was a few hand-rolled cigarettes. 

"I hate to smoke with you here, but I really need to." Mink explained, and Aoba nodded.

"I can understand why." Aoba said, and Mink put one to his lips and lit it. "Funny how you're so obsessed with organic, responsible foods, and then you smoke." Aoba teased.

"This is organic, locally grown tobacco. It isn't problematic." Mink explained. "Tobacco is important to my culture." 

"Sure," Aoba laughed, and rolled down his window. "Tell me about this place you're taking me to."

"It's a few towns over, on a reservation. Everything there is farmed on our land." 

"You are such a hippie." Aoba laughed. 

"I'm good to our land." Mink responded. 

"Mmm, sure." Aoba smiled, and added, "Hippie."

Aoba saw Mink smile for the first time that day, and soon enough they were on the highway, speeding towards date night.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> didnt write the actual date scene bc wow cannot write restaurant scenes but hopefully this makes up for all the filler ive done  
> enjoy u filthy animals ;)

Aoba pouted as they left the restaurant. 

"What, did you not like the food?" Mink asked him. 

"No, it was fine." Aoba said. He climbed into Mink's car and continued to pout.

"So you didn't enjoy your time with me, I see." Mink said. 

"No, I had a great time! I just..." Aoba trailed off. He felt childish for acting this way.

"You just what?" Mink asked.

"Well... _I_ wanted to pay." Aoba said, and pouted again. He really did feel childish. 

Mink laughed, and put his arm on Aoba's seat so he could back up.

"Well when we get home, I'll make it up to you." Mink said, and Aoba was shocked. Home? Did that mean he was inviting Aoba over again? He remembered what Koujaku said and felt his face grow hot. No way, Mink wouldn't. 

"And just how are you going to do that?" Aoba asked, his tone bordering on flirtatious. 

Mink chuckled softly, and took his arm off Aoba's seat. Aoba was only a little disappointed when the closeness was gone, but immediately felt better.

Because Mink put his hand down on Aoba's, and gently intertwined their fingers. 

It took all of Aoba's willpower not to scream, or faint, or both. It was such a small gesture of intimacy, especially considering he had kissed Mink before and he was currently on his way to Mink's house to kiss him some more, but it made Aoba unexplainably happy.

"You'll see once we're home." Mink answered, and Aoba didn't have anything to say. 

-

45 minutes later, Aoba and Mink arrived at Mink's home. Aoba had made himself comfortable on Mink's couch, and Mink had made them both coffee.

"You really enjoy coffee." Aoba said when a mug was handed to him.

"Coffee tastes good," Mink replied, and sat down next to Aoba. He was close enough for Aoba to cuddle up next to, if he really wanted to.

The two drank their coffee quietly. After spending so much time with Mink, Aoba understood that he was a man of little words. He didn't like small talk, though Aoba, being the chatterbox he was, often forced it onto him. But Aoba was growing more accustomed to content silence. 

When Mink put his mug down, Aoba did the same. "You said you would make it up to me," he said softly. He looked over to Mink, who looked absolutely beautiful just then.

"I did," Mink responded. He put an arm around Aoba.

"And how did you plan on doing that?" Aoba didn't know how he managed to be so smooth when he was screaming on the inside. Koujaku's influence on him must have been strong.

"Hmm, that depends." Mink said. 

"Depends on what?"

"If you'll let me kiss you or not."

Oh. _Oh._  Aoba went a little red, and then nodded. "You don't have to ask permission to kiss me, or... touch me." Aoba spent way too much time with Koujaku. Why else would he say those embarrassing things? "You can just do it."

"I like to have permission. I don't want to overstep my boundaries and do something you don't want." Mink said, and before Aoba could respond, Mink's lips were on his. The kiss was slow, but passionate. If Aoba was standing, he was sure his knees would be weak. The combination of the smell of incense that clung to Mink and the sweet taste of coffee and sugar that was on his lips made Aoba swoon.

Mink pulled away far too soon for Aoba's liking. "Am I forgiven yet?" He asked.

"Mmm, no, not yet." Aoba smiled. He shifted so he was on his knees, and gently pushed Mink onto his back. Mink looked up at Aoba and smiled.

"You seem to like this position." He said.

"I don't get to see you from above very often; it's not my fault you look so pretty with your hair all splayed out and when you look up into my eyes," Aoba had no idea where that came from. It was so embarrassing! "Er, besides. You'd probably crush me if you sat on me like this..."

Hoping to avoid any further embarrassment, Aoba leaned down and kissed Mink. They kissed passionately, almost demandingly. Aoba felt Mink's rock hard chest, and Mink fisted a hand in Aoba's hair. He snaked his tongue into Aoba's mouth, and Aoba could have moaned. This was the best kiss Aoba had had in a long time.

Aoba pulled away to catch his breath, and looked down at Mink. The older man had a certain look in his eyes, one Aoba had never seen on him, but one he recognized all the same. It was lust.

It made Aoba smirk. The second he understood that look, he started to grow hard. Due to their position, he was sure Mink felt it, but he didn't care just then. He immediately lowered his head to Mink's neck, and kissed and licked and bit at it. This time, Mink didn't push him away. In fact, Mink placed his free hand on Aoba's lower back, keeping him in place.

Aoba started to suck a mark onto Mink's neck, but Mink pulled away. "Ah ah, it's my turn." Mink's voice dripped with lust, and it only made Aoba harder. He could feel Mink's own erection growing as well; it felt huge. 

The second Mink's lips touched Aoba's neck, he let out a slight moan. Mink sucked hard at Aoba's neck, and he realized somewhere in his brain that he would have to find a way to cover the inevitable hickey, but he didn't care just then. 

It felt so good that Aoba started to grind down on Mink's crotch. As soon as he did, he felt Mink's hand lower, and it finally came to rest on Aoba's ass. Well, Koujaku was right about one thing. Mink groped at it and felt him up so well that Aoba let out a much louder moan, and grinded faster on Mink's hardening cock.

And suddenly, Mink pulled his lips away from Aoba's neck. "Wait, Aoba, wait-" He said breathlessly, but Aoba ignored him and kept grinding. He wanted relief, badly. "Aoba, how old are you?" 

"Ah- I'm 17," Aoba managed out. Moans punctuated his sentence. "But I'll be 18 in a month, it's- ah! It'll be fine!"

"No, Aoba, it's not," Mink said, and suddenly sat up. Aoba stopped moving his hips and let out a needy whine.

"I promise, Mink, it's fine, I turn 18 on April 22nd," he said, and placed a kiss on Mink's jawline. 

"Aoba- stop." Mink pushed Aoba away and then looked into his eyes. "I want to fuck you. I want to fuck you so hard my neighbors will need a cigarette afterwards. But you have to know that I don't just do these things casually." 

"It doesn't have to be casual, I don't want it to be casual-" Aoba argued, but Mink pressed a finger to his lips.

"Then you will understand why I want to wait for you to be 18. I won't risk having to end this because it's illegal."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Aoba climbed off Mink's lap, and Mink sat up fully. Aoba scooted closer to him, and Mink wrapped an arm around him. "So this isn't casual, then?"

"No, I would like a serious relationship with you." Mink answered. 

"I think I would too," Aoba responded. 

"This isn't some short fling, Aoba. Don't go into this if you're expecting something short-term and open. You will be mine, and mine alone, hopefully for quite some time." 

"Of course." Aoba said. He was in shock. He knew Mink liked him, but not this much. There was no way he would have thought something so serious would have come from Mink's mouth, at least not so soon. He was sure he wanted this, though. 

"Then I'll be glad to call you my partner." Mink's voice was soft and full of adoration. He gave Aoba a smile and kissed him gently. "And as soon as you're 18, I'll do whatever you want to you." 

Aoba blushed and nodded. Though he wanted nothing more than for Mink to take him just then, he could wait. From the way Mink spoke, he knew he would have plenty of time with the man to do whatever he liked.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can i take a moment to give a big thank you to tumblr user mofspades, who drew very lovely fanart of this series?? (look at it guys its perFECT http://mofspades.tumblr.com/post/111617488654/nedcans-i-didnt-know-which-scene-to-draw-so-iust) it was the first time anyone had ever drew fanart of my fics for me and just thank u mofspades

It was nearing 10 before Aoba finally convinced himself that he should probably go home before his curfew. He reluctantly pulled himself out of Mink's arms and stood up, stretching out his cramped muscles. They had sat in the same position for some time.

"I should be getting home. Curfew is at 11 tonight." Aoba said, and Mink looked up to him. 

"I doubt I could convince you to break it." Mink said, and Aoba laughed and shook his head. 

"No, Granny lectured me last time I broke it about how I was just like my parents." 

"Mm. Then I'll take you home." Mink said, and his eyes strayed to Aoba's neck. "What do you plan on doing about that?"

Oh, right. Mink had left a mark on Aoba's neck. Aoba strained his eyes to see if the one he left on Mink's was visible, but it didn't seem to be. Mink had much darker skin than Aoba, and Aoba was more gentle with him. "Er, I'm not sure. Is it bad?" 

"Just a little," Mink said, and stood up. "Come with me."

Aoba followed Mink to his bathroom. It was small, and cluttered, a lot like the rest of Mink's house. 

"Let's see if I have anything to help with bruising..." Mink trailed off as he rummaged through drawers. He ended up pulling out a small wooden box from his medicine cabinet. "Here. This should help."

Aoba took it from Mink, and opened the lid. It was a cream that smelled of menthol, and was cold to the touch. He positioned himself in front of Mink's mirror, and angled his neck so he could apply the cream. Aoba was shocked when he saw the marks on his neck; the large, dark purple hickeys covered a good portion of his neck. "Mink..." Aoba muttered. 

"I can see I got a little carried away," Mink said. "Now people will know you're mine, at least." He wrapped his large arms around Aoba's waist, and rested his chin on Aoba's head.

"Er, people are going to know I'm some sort of cheap whore..." Aoba dipped his hand into the cream and started to spread it onto his neck. The hickeys and bite marks made his neck sore to touch, but he spread the cream nonetheless. 

"You're not. These marks show our bond." Mink said, slightly offended. 

"I don't think Granny will see it that way, Mink." Aoba laughed, and Mink grunted in response. 

"The bruising should heal better with this. But it will still take a few days." Mink said.

"How am I going to sneak this one past Granny?" Aoba sighed loudly. He was going to be in a lot of trouble.

"Wait here," Mink said, and he untangled himself from Aoba. He left the bathroom, and returned not long afterwards with a sweater. "This is going to be too big for you. But it's worth a shot."

As he took the sweater, Aoba nodded. "If it's the only thing we can do, we might as well try." He slipped off his coat and shirt, only slightly self conscious about exposing himself to Mink. He pulled the sweater Mink gave him on, and looked into the mirror.  

A giggle escaped Aoba's lips. It fell nearly to his knees, and only his fingertips poked out of the sleeves. It was probably supposed to be a turtleneck, but on Aoba's small frame, the collar hung open around his neck. "Mink, this absolutely swallows me."

"Mmm, but I like the way you look wearing my clothes, with my marks on your neck... I like you when you're mine." Mink leaned down to press a kiss onto the top of Aoba's head.

"Don't be so embarrassing, Mink," Aoba blushed darkly. After just making out with the man, he wasn't sure why such a small display of affection made him that way. "Anyways, I need to get home. If you like me being yours so much, it's probably in your best interest to not piss my legal guardian off."

"You're right. Come, I'll take you home." Mink said, and they made their way to Mink's car.

-

Mink pulled up in Aoba's driveway a few minutes before Aoba's curfew. When he realized this, Aoba grinned. "We have enough time for me to have a goodnight kiss." He said, and leaned over to press a kiss to Mink's lips.

After saying their goodbyes, Aoba turned to leave the car. However, Mink's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Can I see you tomorrow?"

"I would love to, but, I work tomorrow. Stop in and see me." Aoba smiled, and looked down at his watch. "Curfew starts in 46 seconds. I've got time for one last kiss," and he kissed Mink again. He made it out of Mink's car and into the foyer with 10 seconds to spare.

The house was quiet as Aoba threw down his backpack and slipped off his shoes. He let out a deep sigh of relief; maybe he could get up to his room and cover his neck with makeup before Tae saw.

However, Aoba was not a lucky man. As soon as he reached the stairs, Tae called out to him. "Koujaku has been home this week more than you have, you know."

A feeling of dread came over Aoba. "Well, Koujaku is a freeloader, so," he laughed nervously. He didn't risk turning around to face the kitchen.

"I guess you're right," Tae responded, and Aoba tried to make a break for it. "Ah, come talk to your grandmother!" Shit, Aoba thought. He wasn't going to get off that easily. Pulling the collar of the sweater up as high as he could, Aoba walked back downstairs. 

"Yes?" He asked.

"Come down where I can see you!" Oh, no. Aoba slunk down into the collar, hoping Tae wouldn't notice anything. "You don't want dinner?"

"Ah, no thank you. I ate earlier." Aoba said. He was hungry, but didn't want to be around Tae longer than he had to.

Tae inhaled deeply and glared at Aoba. "You smell funny. Have you been smoking pot?" 

"What, no!" That was a worse accusation than what Aoba _actually_ did. Tae leaned in close to Aoba and sniffed him.

"You smell like cigarette smoke and pot. I raised your mother, and Naine lived with me for nearly a decade. I know what that smell is." Tae's eyes narrowed. "That's not your shirt."

"Granny, I didn't smoke pot. Haga swabs my mouth once a month to make sure I'm not on drugs." Aoba sighed loudly. He would rather Tae know the truth than believe that he was on drugs. "I was at my boyfriend's house. He's a Native American. He burns a lot of weird incense."

"Why are you wearing his shirt, then?" Tae was really giving him the third degree. 

"I thought it would be cute to wear his shirt?" That didn't sound convincing at all. Aoba shrugged his shoulders, which, to his horror, made the collar of Mink's sweater fall down.

Tae made an unhappy noise as soon as she saw the marks on his neck. "You're just like your mother, you know?"

"Granny, I can explain-" Well, he couldn't, but it was worth a shot.

"Haruka loved Naine, so I didn't reprimand her. What about you? Do you love the man who did this to you?" Tae's tone was demanding. 

"I'm not so sure about love, but, I like him..." Aoba's face was hot. Did he love Mink? He barely knew Mink. It wasn't like he had much time to think about it before Tae started interrogating him.

"Might I remind you of the last time you came home with marks on your neck, saying you liked the boy who gave them to you?" Tae asked, and Aoba grew even redder. He remembered that all too well, and he didn't really want to think about it. 

"Mink is different, Granny." Aoba was sure he sounded as embarrassed as he felt. "He cares for me a lot."

"Mink, eh? His name is no better than the last one. What did he call himself? Sound, or something ridiculous like that." 

"Noiz, er, his name was Noiz. Mink is a Native name, though."

"Hmph. At least tell me you're using protection." 

Aoba made a loud, embarrassed sound. "Granny! We aren't having sex!" It wasn't like he had a choice in that matter, but he kept that to himself. 

"You said the same thing about the last boy, but I most definitely saw-"

" _Goodnight,_ Granny!" Aoba had bolted up the stairs before Tae could finish her sentence, and he was sure he heard her laughing as he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna add more to this but the chapter was getting long already :c


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im super sorry about this chapter ok  
> since i write on my phone (horrible decision dont ever do it) sometimes things happen and well long story short this chapter got deleted and i sort of had to reconstruct it so sorry if its weird, i just could not be assed to properly rewrite it

"So you're telling me, you guys make out, he leaves the hickey to end all hickeys on your neck, and he just... stopped? Because you're underage." Koujaku sounded like he was in shock. "If I had a 17 year old girl literally grind on my dick, I would not be able to control myself." 

"Well you're only 18. I guess things are different at Mink's age?" Aoba shrugged and finished stocking the shelf he was working at. "He said that he didn't want anything casual, and by having sex with me when I was underage, he was putting our relationship in jeopardy." 

"The guy must have some serious willpower. I was sure he was going to get in that twink ass of yours." Koujaku said, and Aoba narrowed his eyes. 

"Don't call me a twink, first of all," Aoba scolded. "Second of all, the man is basically made of pure willpower. He completely stopped after he found out I wasn't 18. I was hard for a good 30 minutes after that, but he seemed just completely unphased by his erection."

"Aoba, I don't mean to scare you, but I think you're dating a robot." Koujaku said. 

Aoba was about to respond, when he heard the bell at the front of the shop ring. He immediately perked up and put on his 'friendly employee’ face’ and shooed Koujaku away from behind the counter. "Welcome to the Junk Shop, can I help you today?" 

After a few seconds with no response from the customer, Aoba shrugged. "Alright, I guess I'll just go fuck myself then." He said in Japanese. Koujaku laughed, and Aoba picked up a heavy box of supplies to begin stocking another shelf. 

"Just what was that about fucking yourself?" A familiar voice said, and Aoba nearly dropped his box. 

"Mink?!" He exclaimed, and he heard Koujaku laughing behind him. 

"This man has a sixth sense, Aoba. You should just stop speaking Japanese in public." Koujaku said, and Aoba didn't know whether to glare at him or Mink.

"Agaki has a point," Mink said, and Aoba decided to glare at him. 

After putting down his box and mentally cursing, Aoba sighed and moved to behind the counter. "How can I help our valued customer today?" 

"I came to check on you, since our usual time together was interrupted," Mink said, exhaling forcefully as he remembered what had happened during detention. 

"You really can't get her out of your class?" Aoba asked. "She's so racist and gross." 

"No, she's stuck. I'll see what I can do about getting another teacher to take her after school, though." Mink looked a little bit more relieved just by saying that. "How is your neck?" 

"He looks like he was in a street fight. People probably think Aoba's in a gang, now." Koujaku answered for Aoba. Mink shot him a glare, and Aoba shrugged. 

"He's not wrong." Aoba said, and started to 

unwrap the scarf he wore. Underneath the fabric, ugly, dark purple bruises bloomed on his pale skin. Mink reached out to touch one, which caused Aoba to inhale sharply; they were still sensitive to touch. 

Jerking away from Aoba's neck, Mink sighed. "I... should not have done this. I apologize." He sounded upset, and that made Aoba upset. 

"It's fine, honestly. Granny wasn't too happy when she saw them, but she didn't really get me in trouble." Aoba wanted to make Mink feel better. 

"Wait, Tae-san saw that? How are you even alive right now? She scolded me last time she saw a hickey on my neck!" Koujaku interjected. 

Aoba chose to ignore Koujaku's comment, and kept his focus on Mink. "I'll be sure to return the favor once I'm off sexual probation, anyways." After a momentary glare, probably over the term 'sexual probation,’ Mink raised his eyebrows. 

"You really think you can manage to mark me like I have you?" Wait, was Mink flirting?

"Oh, I know I can. Not like I didn't get a start last night." 

"Is that so? The last time I checked, my skin was fine." As if to prove a point, Mink lowered the collar of his shirt. He was right; aside from a little bit of discoloration, he didn't have a single mark on him. 

"You guys are gross," Koujaku called out. Aoba and Mink both shot him glares. He put his hands up in mock surrender, and went back to his phone. 

It was at that moment that Haga popped out from the back. "I don't mind a little bit of conversation, Aoba, but at least don't neglect your work!" 

"Oh, sorry sir!" Aoba called, and immediately reached for the heavy box so that he could continue restocking. However, Mink beat him to it, and held the box in his strong arms. It was at least 50 pounds, yet to Mink, that was nothing. Aoba could see the bulging muscles, and would have done anything to be able to touch them. Ignoring the voice in his brain screaming at Aoba to touch Mink, Aoba obediently began to stock the shelf in front of him. 

Before long, the shelf was stocked, and Mink threw the empty box to the ground. "I should head out." Mink said. "I'll see you tomorrow, Aoba." 

"Er, see you, Mink." Aoba said. He wished he could kiss him goodbye. 

"Bye, Mr. Mink!" Koujaku called. Aoba turned and gave him an upset look. 

Mink, however, gave Koujaku a nod. "Agaki." And with that, Mink left the store, leaving Aoba with a smile as he finished his work. 

-

"He likes you." Koujaku sang as they sat in Aoba's bedroom. 

"Er, I know? He's my boyfriend?" Aoba had no idea what Koujaku was getting at. 

Koujaku let out a loud sigh and he let his head fall onto Aoba's shoulder. "Aoba, you're so oblivious. He really, _really_ likes you. You have lit up this man's life. You have changed something in him for the better." 

Aoba pushed Koujaku off of him and stood up. "Have you been reading your mom's romance novels again?" Aoba asked, stretching and yawning. 

"No- well, yes, but that isn't important. I never see Mink happy unless he's looking at you. I watched you two in the store today, and the way this guy stares at you should not be allowed, it's that fucking romantic and loving and gross. You should pay attention to more than just his muscles next time." Koujaku rolled around in Aoba's bed for an added effect.

"I worry sometimes that you live vicariously through me when you aren't able to get a date. That's true, isn't it?" Aoba asked and laughed. 

"If I have to go through a dry spell, I'm at least going to try to make things better for those around me," Koujaku sounded defensive, and Aoba knew what he had said was true. 

Koujaku's romantic ramblings did get Aoba thinking, though. Mink was a lot happier with Aoba around. At first, Aoba just thought he was getting to know the real Mink. But, the more he thought about it, Koujaku was right; ever since Aoba had started becoming friendly with him, Mink had changed. He yelled less in class, and at any given time, his face was softer. He actually smiled and smirked. There were even a few times where he _laughed_. 

All that could easily be chalked up to Mink just growing more comfortable. But Aoba liked to think Mink's growth was all on him.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let's get started with the actual plot now guys heck yea

"You know my parents are making me go to Japan by myself?" Koujaku asked the next morning as he and Aoba got ready for school.

"What? They're making you?" Aoba asked. He knew Koujaku's parents were weird, which is why he put up with him being over so often, but this was something new.

"Yeah. You know how Dad was Yakuza, right? Well Mom and my step-dad are terrified of him. Dad's dying and wants to see me before he goes, so they're are making me go, even though I hate him. And they refuse to go with me." Koujaku explained, and Aoba frowned. Koujaku never spoke much about his father, but hem had enough over the past 5 years that Aoba knew he was an abusive, repulsive son of a bitch. He felt bad for his friend. 

"When are you going?" Aoba asked. 

"Dad got me a ticket leaving on April 10 and getting back on the 24th, so a couple of weeks." Koujaku said, and then laughed. "Sadly, I'm going to miss your birthday and I won't get to hear about all the birthday sex you're going to have."

Aoba laughed too, and then he got an idea. "Hey, did your parents specifically say that you /had to go alone?" 

After a second of thinking, Koujaku shrugged. "They never said I had to. They just said they weren't going with me."

"If you promise me you'll let me go visit my hometown, I'll tag along. I have enough money saved up." Aoba said, and Koujaku's face lit up.

"You'd give up birthday sex to go to Japan with me?" He asked excitedly.

"I _am_  giving up birthday sex to go to Japan with you. Granny will be upset about it, and tell me I'm just like my parents, and I don't even want to think about how Mink will take it, but I'm going." Aoba said, and Koujaku grinned. 

"If you weren't a taken man, I would kiss you, Seragaki Aoba." He sounded excited, and Aoba didn't blame him. He had probably accepted his fate at that point. "I'll send you my flight details so you can book the same one. You have a passport? Dad can pull strings and get you in if not."

Letting out a light laugh, Aoba picked up his backpack. "I have a passport. Granny won that trip to Mexico when I was 16, remember? Don't get the Yakuza more involved than they have to be."

Suddenly, Aoba was pulled into a tight hug. He jumped, not expecting Koujaku's arms to be around him so abruptly. "You're a really good friend, Aoba. Truthfully, I didn't know how I was going to survive facing Dad on my own." That was the most sincerity Aoba had heard from Koujaku in a long time. He was a joker, who didn't have moments like this very often. They were certainly shocking when he did have them, though.

"Ah, don't mention it, Koujaku." Aoba wasn't a fan of closeness, but he allowed himself to hug Koujaku despite that. His older friend seemed like he needed it. "Consider it repayment for befriending me and protecting me when I was a lonely, gay, bad-at-English 13 year old."

"No, I'll make it up to you, I promise. We'll surely have quite a bit of time where I'm not with my dad, we _will_ visit Midorijima." Koujaku released Aoba from the hug, and the two left Aoba's home to walk to school. 

"I was only joking about that, Koujaku. Midorijima is pretty far away from Tokyo, we don't have to go." 

"No, we're going to Midorijima." Koujaku said sternly, and Aoba nodded. There was no way he was talking Koujaku out of it now that the idea was in his head.

Truthfully, Aoba didn't mind. He hadn't visited Midorijima since he left Japan, and was excited to go back. He had kept in touch with one of his old friends from there, even though it had been years, and he was excited to see him again. Aoba made a mental note to shoot his old friend a DM on Twitter once he was back to his computer. 

At the thought of seeing his hometown again, Aoba smiled. Going to Japan was fantastic on its own, but he didn't think he would ever be able to thank Koujaku enough for taking him to his hometown again.

-

"You're going where?" Mink asked, almost in disbelief. 

After thinking about it all day, Aoba decided that it would be best to tell Mink right away that he would be going to Japan. Not only did he feel that his boyfriend deserved to know, he also wanted to find out what homework assignments he would be missing in the two weeks he would be gone.

Aoba waited until after school, and approached Mink's desk like he did every day. 'I'm going back to Japan,' he had told him. Mink, as Aoba thought, wasn't exactly thrilled.

"Japan, but only for two weeks. It's a sort of birthday present to myself." Aoba explained. Okay, technically he was accompanying his friend while he talked to his retired Yakuza boss father, but those were small details that would only worry Mink unnecessarily. 

"I understand how it could be important to you to be at your homeland as you become an adult," Mink nodded. Of course he would find some hidden spiritual meaning in Aoba's journey.

"Uh, that's not really it, I'm just kind of tagging along with Koujaku while he goes on vacation…" Aoba explained. 

"Do whatever you want to. Did you think I would try and keep you here?" Mink asked, and Aoba shook his head. He knew Mink wouldn't hold him back from doing, well, really anything he wanted to do. Free will was something very important to Mink. 

"I'll be sure and bring you back lots of souvenirs, and do all the homework you've assigned while I'm gone." Aoba gave Mink a big smile, and managed to get a small one out of Mink as well.

"You'll miss my rant about Ronald Reagan, sadly." Mink said.

"Reagan gave my great-grandmother $20,000 for her suffering in the internment camp, he basically paid for my whole family to come to America, he's fine with me," Aoba said and shrugged, and he caught a glare from Mink. "But if you would like, you can tell me what Reagan did wrong now." He tacked on in an attempt to save himself. 

"Sit down, there's so much for me to tell you." Mink said. Aoba laughed, and sat down on his desk. It was always fun to watch Mink when he was incensed and on a rant about history. He always got borderline angry, and it was interesting to see that emotion on the generally stoic man, even if it did mean Aoba had to sit through a lecture on the lingering effects of Reaganomics to see it.

-

"You're doing what?!" Tae shouted when Aoba told her the news.

"It's Koujaku's fault, honestly. He begged me to go with him, you know." That wasn't exactly the truth, but Aoba knew Granny secretly loved Koujaku like one of her own, and that she would go for it. "I couldn't just let the man face his father on his own, either."

"Seragaki Aoba, you are-"

"Just like my parents, I know. But, I only have one 18th birthday, shouldn't I spend it in a place I love?"

Tae made an angry noise in her throat, and shot Aoba a glare. "Bring me back some incense. And good rice."

And with that, Aoba knew he had permission. He gave his grandmother a hug, and kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks, Granny!" He exclaimed before running upstairs to book his flight and start getting things arranged.


	15. Chapter 15

Aoba knew he should be at home, sleeping and preparing for his departure the next day, but when Mink asked Aoba to come over, he couldn't say no.

As of late, he had been spending all his free time at Mink's home. It was generally spent quietly; Mink would read and Aoba would usually sit quietly or nap beside him. Mink would give Aoba all the attention he needed, though it generally was nonverbal. Aoba wasn't sure how he was going to handle two weeks away from his boyfriend, but he was sure he would find away.

"I want to give you something." Mink said abruptly. It startled Aoba; the two of them had been sitting in silence as Mink read, his arms wrapped tightly around Aoba.

"What is it?" Aoba asked. 

"A sort of good luck charm. To ensure your safety while you're in Japan." 

"Oh, alright."

"Wait here."

Mink stood up, and came back a few moments later with an ornate, woven necklace. It had a pendant similar to the one Mink wore in his hair, and, surprisingly, a heavy padlock hanging beside it. He slipped it over Aoba's head, and let his hand linger on his cheek.

"Promise me you won't take this off. Not until you return safely to me." Mink said. 

"What does this lock mean?" Aoba asked. It seemed out of place on the necklace. 

"It is a… memento of my time in Japan. I was safe when I wore it, and you'll be safe as well. The pendant will do the same." 

"It's beautiful. Where did you get this?" Aoba looked down and touched it gently.

"I made it. With supplies I salvaged from my village."

Aoba was speechless. This was one of the nicest gesture Mink could have given him. Something from his village? He felt tears well in his eyes, and blinked them away.

"How can I repay you for this?" There had to be some way. He couldn't just take it.

"By safety returning to me after your trip."

"Why are you so worried?" The question came out before Aoba could even think about what he was saying. "Japan isn't so dangerous."

"You and I must remember Japan differently."

"Well, yeah, because I didn't join a gang," Aoba teased, but immediately felt bad. Was it okay to tease about Mink's past?

Mink let out a soft chuckle. Aoba let out a sigh of relief; he hadn't offended Mink, and he was happy about that. 

"I saw a different side of Japan than you. I only hope you won't see that side." Mink said, and Aoba hummed in response. He couldn't admit that he was going to see that side, at least somewhat. Though he had never met Koujaku's biological father, and wasn't sure to what extent he would be involved in their trip, he knew that the Yakuza would play some sort of role.

But Mink didn't need to know that. 

"You need to go home now. You have a long flight ahead of you." Mink said, and Aoba nodded. He would have loved to stay longer, but his flight left at 7 the next morning. Mink leaned over to press a kiss to Aoba's lips. "Keep in touch while you're there. Bring me back something nice."

Aoba smiled and nodded, and stood up to go to Mink's car.

-

After a long, hectic day, Koujaku and Aoba landed in Tokyo. Both feeling jet-lagged and irritable, the two immediately fell into bed and went to sleep. 

The next day, Aoba woke up at 12 PM, totally alone. He stretched and got up, looking around the hotel room. There was no sign of Koujaku, except for a bottle of sake with a note attached to it.

'Dad sends his regards. I should be home around 2 PM- don't drink it all. - Koujaku' 

"Hmph, as if I would drink at this hour," Aoba said to himself. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants from his suitcase, and walked out to the balcony. 

Koujaku had already been there; that much was evident from the cup full of cigarette butts sitting beside the chair. He must have been a nervous wreck for him to have smoked that much in such a short amount of time. Aoba picked them up dutifully, and emptied them out in the trash.

Afterwards, he took a long bath. The hot water felt nice against his muscles, and when he got out, it was 1:30. He decided to occupy the last few minutes before Koujaku got back by texting Mink. 

'I just woke up' was what he sent. Nearly immediately, he got a reply.

'That's impressive. You landed almost 24 hours ago.'

'Don't judge, it was a long flight' Mink, in true hippie form, always liked to be up before sunrise. Aoba didn't get it. 

'We all don't have your willpower, you know.'

'If only you could, Aoba. Are you wearing my necklace?'

'I haven't left the hotel yet, but ya' Aoba extended his arms and took a selfie, making sure the necklace was visible. He attached that to his message and sent it to Mink. 

'Good.' And a few seconds later, Mink had sent a picture of himself to Aoba. The angle was a little weird, and the picture was slightly blurry, but he looked like he was sitting on his sofa reading, and Aoba smiled. 

'I never thought I would see the day where Mink Begay took a selfie'

'I'm as surprised as you are.' 

Aoba smiled and rolled around on his bed. He had the most adorable boyfriend in the world.

Suddenly the door opened and Koujaku walked in. "Get up and put some clothes on, Aoba. We're going out." 

Aoba groaned, and told Mink he had to go. He was already dressed, so he grabbed his backpack and left with Koujaku. 

"So how was it with your dad?" Aoba asked as they walked the streets of Tokyo. 

"Horrible, embarrassing, I might have to move to Japan and take over dad's place in the Yakuza." Koujaku said casually. "As much as I expected out of the old man."

"Wait, what?" Aoba stopped walking, and took in what Koujaku said. 

"Dad doesn't want his little empire to crumble away when he's gone. He wants me to take his place." Koujaku shrugged like it was no big deal. 

"Koujaku, you cried during the Notebook. You wouldn't dissect the frog in biology. You cannot be a Yakuza boss!" Aoba shouted. He couldn't belive what Koujaku was telling him.

"I'm not going to do it. I'm going to tell him no." 

"Can you tell the Yakuza no?"

"We're going to find out."

And that was the last of it. Koujaku didn't bring it up for the rest of the day, and the next day, Koujaku was home before Aoba woke up. 

"I told him no. He told me to think about it and to come back tomorrow. He gave us more sake." An identical bottle sat by the one that they got yesterday. The first bottle only had a few drinks taken out of it.

"He must think we drink a lot." Aoba commented, but Koujaku shook his head.

"He's bribing me with alcohol so I lose my inhibitions and agree to take his place." 

"He's given us enough alcohol to put us into a coma." Aoba laughed, trying to make the air a little less tense.

"I'll tell him no again tomorrow. There's no way I'll say yes."

"You're making the right decision." Aoba smiled at his friend and put a hand on his shoulder. Koujaku was really showing his strength.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aoba and mink are probably racking up tons of international phone bills  
> but mink taking selfies B)  
> sorry for the awkward end point i just really want to get started on the next chapter


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trip & virus are actual Yakuza trash and have begun aoba's descent into pure hell
> 
> have fun it all goes downhill after this

Five days had passed, and Koujaku had told his father no every day. Every day, Koujaku came back with an expensive bottle of sake and an aura of stress and anger. The sixth day was no different. 

On the seventh day, the day the two planned to leave for Midorijima, however, something different happened.

Aoba had gotten up at the same time as Koujaku on the day they were planning to leave Tokyo. He had been on enough trips with Koujaku to know that the man was notorious for leaving things behind in the hotel, so he wanted to make sure they had everything they needed before heading to the airport. 

It took Aoba a few hours to gather all their items and tidy up the hotel room, and when he had finished, he heard the door open. "Hey, Koujaku, I packed up all your shit for you." He called as he made his bed, not bothering to turn around.

When Koujaku didn't answer, Aoba huffed and turned around. "Get a move on, our flight leaves in an… hour." After turning around, Aoba stopped. Koujaku stood in the doorway with an angry look on his face, flanked by two blonde men. The taller and younger of the two scowled at Aoba, and the shorter, obviously older one smiled from behind his thick-rimmed glasses. They were dressed in expensive suits. The shorter one had a plaid tie, which matched the taller one's plaid suit. They looked like twins. "I didn't know we picked up an entourage."

"I didn't either. They're more gifts from Dad. To make sure we have everything we need in Midorijima." Koujaku didn't sound happy about the two men accompanying them to Midorijima, and Aoba didn't blame him. He didn't exactly want two gangsters following him around his hometown, but he knew he wasn't in a position to tell the Yakuza no. "Their names are Virus and Trip, though I can't tell you which one is which."

"I'm Virus." The one with glasses said. He gave Aoba a wave.

"And I'm Trip," said the taller one. He gave a wave as well, but it seemed less enthusiastic than Virus's. 

Aoba gave them a polite smile, then turned to Koujaku. 

"Can you help me pack up what's left in the bathroom? You two can help yourself to some sake, or a smoke." He tossed Koujaku's half-smoked pack of cigarettes towards Trip, who caught them easily. 

Koujaku followed Aoba to the bathroom, and then shut the door so they could have a moment of privacy. 

Aoba inhaled deeply to compose himself, then exhaled. "I'm going to try to stay calm as possible about this," he said, and Koujaku nodded. "We are being shadowed by the fucking mob!"

"That was not calm at all, Aoba." Koujaku attempted to joke, but Aoba didn't go for it.

"I specifically told Mink I wasn't going to get involved in gang activities!" Aoba whispered angrily. 

"That's a weird thing to tell your boyfriend before going to another country," Koujaku tried to be funny again, but realized that it wasn't going to help. "I'm sorry, okay? I couldn't refuse them. It's bad enough that I denied Dad's request 7 times already!"

Aoba sighed loudly. "I'm meeting a childhood friend at the airport. What is he going to think when I show up with two twin Yakuza members?" 

"We aren't twins," one of them called from the other side of the door. Shit, were they listening this entire time?

"We better not get into any trouble because of this." Aoba said firmly, and opened the door. There was no use in trying to talk if the two not-twins were just going to eavesdrop. He didn't want to get in trouble with the Yakuza. Resigned to his fate, Aoba picked up his luggage and took it to the door. "Come on. We have a flight to catch."

-

Somehow, Aoba ended up getting seated right between Trip and Virus on the plane. Though it was only around an hour to Midorijima, Aoba wanted to scream. He was the one who was vehemently opposed to them being on the trip with them, and he was the one who was stuck with them. Typical. 

What's worse was, they kept trying to talk to him. They seemed genuinely interested in Aoba, but that didn't impress him. He politely nodded and answered them, but nothing they said had really caught his attention. 

Until Virus pointed out the necklace that Mink had given him. "Does this have special meaning to you? It looks so out of place compared to the rest of your outfit."

"My boyfriend gave it to me. It's a good luck charm." Aoba answered. He didn't exactly like Virus prying like that, but there was no way he was telling a Yakuza member to fuck off.

"It reminds me of someone I used to know. Doesn't it remind you of someone, Trip?" Virus asked, and Trip scrutinized his necklace for a moment. His gaze made Aoba uncomfortable. 

Trip's neutral expression twisted into a grin. "That reminds me of someone very interesting. Say, Aoba, where did you say you're you living again?"

"Arizona. Er, what are you two talking about?" Aoba asked. Were they people from Mink's past? It was possible; Mink was involved in gang activities when he lived in Japan, and these two gangsters recognized Aoba's Native American necklace. How many other Native American gangsters could there be in Japan?

"Aoba-san, I couldn't help but overhear you and Koujaku-san talking earlier. I heard you say the name Mink; is it possible that he's the one who gave you this necklace?" Virus asked, and Aoba's jaw dropped. Though he had just had the thought that they might have known Mink, he didn't ever think that he would be right. "Aoba-san?"

"Oh, er, yeah. Mink is my boyfriend. Did you know him when he lived here?" Aoba asked. 

Virus grinned wickedly, and Aoba suddenly regretted asking that. "We ran in similar circles, so we met Mink-san quite a few times. Our organizations often had their clashes, as well. Mink-san is a very interesting individual, Aoba-san."

"And he has a hell of a right hook," Trip added, rubbing his jaw for emphasis. 

"Would you like to know more about Mink-san?" Virus smiled that smile that made Aoba uncomfortable again.

"We can tell you anything you'd like to know about him. A man like that surely has secrets he's keeping locked up." Trip said. 

Aoba shook his head. He wanted to know more about Mink, sure, but not from creepy guys like Virus and Trip. If Aoba were to find out about Mink's past, it would be from Mink himself. 

Virus nodded. "Some other time, then."

-

When the four of them landed in Midorijima, Aoba immediately started scanning the crowd of people for a familiar face. Though it had been almost a decade since he had last stepped foot on the island, he had kept in touch with one of his childhood friends from there. 

"Aoba!" Someone called, and Aoba jerked his head towards the sound.

"Mizuki!" Aoba called back. He saw his old friend smiling and waving to his right, and started to walk towards him. Once he was close enough, he pulled his old friend into a hug. 

"Even though I see pictures of you all the time, it's so weird seeing you all grown up!" Mizuki said. 

"I know! The last time I saw you, you had far less tattoos! " Aoba laughed.

"These?" Mizuki touched the tear-drop shaped tattoo under his eye. "They're nothing. Just some art. I'm not in the Yakuza or anything." Mizuki laughed, and Aoba forced himself to do the same. Had it not been for the day's events, he was sure it would have been more genuine.

"What's this about the Yakuza?" Koujaku asked as he approached with Trip and Virus in tow. "I'm not leaving you in bad hands, am I?"

"No worse than the hands I'm leaving you in." Aoba joked. He turned back to Mizuki. "You two already know each other," he said, and Mizuki nodded.

"We've been friends online for quite a while, but it's nice to finally meet you!" He extended his hand for Koujaku to shake. "And who are these two?"

"Virus," the older blonde introduced himself. 

"Trip," said the younger. 

They nodded politely to Mizuki, and he nodded back.

"Koujaku, can you take my luggage? I'd like to get caught up with Mizuki and see some of the old sights, if that's alright." Aoba asked. 

"Of course. Can you find the hotel?" Koujaku took the luggage with his free hand, and Aoba nodded. 

"If not, send Virus or Trip to come find me. I'll see you three later tonight." Aoba smiled and waved to his friend and his mob escort. He felt a little bad about leaving Koujaku alone with the Yakuza, but was sure everything would be okay. As creepy as the two men were, he doubted they would try any funny business. 

He left the airport with Mizuki, excited to finally see his hometown after all these years.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk I didnt like this chapter that much??? here's to hoping the next one is better


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first of all, big thanks to tumblr user anopusu for drawing fantastic fan art! ur a doll and ily dearly for it :) (see it here! http://anopusu.tumblr.com/post/111869233930/ive-been-reading-nedcans-minao-fic-here-and-i)
> 
> and on a darker note: there's a few trigger warnings for this chapter. Violence; underage drinking, and an attempted rape scene! If you are triggered by any of these please please dont read the second half of the chapter, I wouldnt want you to be triggered

Catching up with Mizuki and walking around Midorijima was definitely a highlight of the trip. Mizuki explained what he had been up to since Aoba left (he had opened up a bar/tattoo parlor when he turned 20, and sometimes operated a fight club. Aoba was shocked to see Mizuki grow up to be violent, but he wasn't necessarily bothered.) The two found themselves in the East District, where Aoba used to live, and decided to shop for souvenirs here, instead of back in Tokyo. 

They shopped around for a while, and Aoba was lost in nostalgia as he walked into the second-hand shop where his mother used to work part time, when she wasn't travelling anyways. It was exactly how he remembered it, it even smelled the same. If he closed his eyes, he could remember running in excitedly when Haruka worked, and trailing her around as she worked. Aoba smiled; he missed his parents.

He picked up a few odds and ends from the shop. Some incense and spices for Tae, like she asked for, and a mug that had the store's logo on it (Aoba knew she would get a kick out of it.) He also picked up a few things for Mink: some books that he thought his boyfriend would like, and a bracelet made of gorgeous pink stones.

After that, Mizuki showed Aoba his shop. It was in the East District as well, not too far from the store they had just visited. 

"Wow, you really have a place here!" Aoba exclaimed, and Mizuki grinned.

"Thanks! Hey, why don't I give you some ink while you're here?" Mizuki asked, but Aoba shook his head.

"Not today, Mizuki. I don't think Granny would ever forgive me." He politely declined. When Aoba mentioned Tae, however, Mizuki lit up.

"I remember Tae-san! Such a sweet old woman, with cooking to die for!" 

"You and I must have different definitions of sweet," Aoba joked. He glanced down at his watch; it was nearing 8 PM. "I should probably head to the hotel soon. Just to make sure Koujaku hasn't gone crazy being alone with Virus and Trip for so long."

"Mind if I tag along? I can mix you guys some awesome drinks." Mizuki asked, and Aoba nodded. 

"Just, don't bring any more sake, please. We have 6 bottles of it." Aoba said. 

"Oh, I didn't plan on it." Mizuki grabbed a couple of bottles off his shelf and put them into a bag. "Why so much sake?"

Aoba let out a sigh. "It's a long story."

-

Aoba always admitted when he had made a mistake. Drinking a bottle of sake and a half bottle of vodka with his childhood friend, two Yakuza members, and his best friend was a mistake. Leaving the apartment (Aoba wasn't sure how they got into an apartment and not a hotel, but assumed it was Virus and Trip's doing,) and using the not-twin's Yakuza influence to get into a bar (some weird, off the wall joint called Platinum Jail) while they were all tipsy was an even worse decision. 

By 11, Aoba was piss drunk. He didn't drink often, so the feeling overwhelmed him. He stumbled over to Koujaku, and mentioned something about fresh air. He didn't know if Koujaku heard him (and had some doubts if the person he had talked to was Koujaku, it honestly might have been a woman,) but he made his way outside anyways. 

Alone and hammered, Aoba made quite possibly the worst decision of the night: he stumbled off, alone, into the alley by the bar. He felt like puking, and didn't want to be seen. 

"Look here, someone can't hold her liquor!" A deep voice from further down the alley called, and laughter followed it.

Aoba put up a finger to silence them. How dare they mistake him for a woman? Just because he had long hair and a skinny body, how presumptuous. He would have said something, but he was too busy throwing his guts up to respond. 

"It looks like she's having a really hard time. Maybe we should help her out? Give her some, _special attention_?" Another voice said. This one was gruffer, and what he said made Aoba's skin crawl. Once he finished puking, he would give them what for.

"Damn right, we should. Look at the ass on her!" Another voice? How many men were in this alley, just waiting for some poor drunk person to come along?

Aoba finally managed to stop heaving, and wiped at his mouth. "I'll have you know, I am not a woman," was the only thing he managed to slur out.

"Damn right you aren't! You're just a girl, you don't even have any tits on you!" One of the men yelled, and Aoba gasped in offense.

"Don't talk about my tits that way!" He called, and one of the men chuckled darkly. Aoba couldn't see much more of them than three dark shadows making their way down the alley towards him. Now that he was done throwing up, though, he was ready to go back inside. He turned to walk away, concentrating on not falling, when a rough hand grabbed him by the arm.

"Ah, ah, pretty thing. You won't get away that easy." One of the shadowy men cooed. Aoba thought he was going to be sick again.

"Let go of me, you creepy old pervert." Aoba said, and suddenly he was yanked around.

"You little- well would you look at that?" The man grasping Aoba's arm asked, and even in the dark Aova could see the grin forming on his face. "See that lock around her neck? Looks like we got a Scratch girl. You're a rare occurrence nowadays."

Aoba used his free hand to touch at the necklace Mink had given him. Scratch? What were they talking about? He was far too drunk to be dealing with this right then.

"Let me go before I get my Yakuza members on you, they're supposed to be watching me." Aoba tried to struggle away, but the man strengthened his grip. 

"Bullshit. Like a Yakuza would do anything for a Scratch girl." The man at his arm chuckled again. 

"Hey, yo, boss, you think this one is important? She's got that same symbol Mink wore with her chain." One of the men called. Did he just say… Mink? These men were unsavory characters, it was definitely a possibility that they ran in the same bad crowd as Mink. 

"You know Mink? He's my boyfriend!" Aoba called. His drunken mind decided that would be a good idea, yelling that out, but it wasn't. The man, apparently the leader, at his arm gripped even tighter. He was going to be bruised after this.

"Guys, we hit the jackpot. We got ourselves one of Mink's girls." The leader grinned slyly and Aoba tried to smack him off.

"Excuse you, I am the _only_  person in Mink's life!"

"Bullshit. That man had a fucking harem." One of the men called. Aoba's mouth opened in shock. That couldn't be true, Mink was gay, Mink had told him-

His thoughts were cut off by the disgusting man at his arm kissing his lips, shoving his tongue into his mouth. Aoba bit down on it, hard, until he tasted iron. He got slapped in the face for his efforts.

"Ha, a feisty one. How about we use you to get a bit of revenge on Scratch? You be sure and tell Mink that Agent Orange treated you real nice." The leader then ripped off Aoba's jeans. No, no way was this happening. He had been annoyed with Virus and Trip's presense all night; where the hell were they when he actually needed them? His lower half was exposed to the cold, spring air, and the men around him laughed.

"Who would have known Mink would end up being a queer." One of them said, and it made Aoba angry. _Don't talk about Mink that way. Don't you dare hurt me, because then you'll hurt Mink too,_ was the mantra he repeated in his mind. Even if these men told him lies about Mink being promiscuous, Aoba still wanted to do everything in his power to keep him from getting hurt.

"Who cares, turn 'em around and he'll do well enough to be a chick." No, Aoba wouldn't let this happen without a fight. He gathered all the strength he could in his current state, and let loose a roundhouse kick to the man gripping his arm.

And after that, he didn't remember a thing. 

 


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for someone who's kin with aoba, i sure am an asshole to him  
> tw for dissociation in this one and probably for the rest of the fic (which honestly doesn't have much longer to go??? idk we're at the conflict and it's gonna get solved quicker than an actually interesting plotline in supernatural once tae and mink get a hold of the blue haired fucker)

Aoba woke up in a hotel room. It wasn't the apartment that he had been staying at, no. It was someplace different. He remembered drinking with Koujaku, Mizuki, Trip and Virus. Once he got drunk, though, things were a blur. There was a bar, and some creepy men trying to assault him, and then nothing. That felt like a dream, though. Right then and there honestly felt like a dream. What had happened last night? Why didn't he have a hangover?

"Well, good morning, sleepyhead." A voice from beside him on the bed called, and Aoba's heart sank. He knew that voice.

"T-Trip?" He asked. He didn't want to look over, even though he knew who he would see. He didn't want to confirm his suspicions. 

Mink was going to hate him.

"Sly," Trip said back. What the fuck did that mean? Aoba's heart was beating fast. He couldn't believe what he had done. He couldn't. "Now that you're awake, how about we go for round two?" Aoba still refuse to take his eyes off the ceiling, but he could see Trip out of the corner of his eye. He was naked, and covered in hickeys and bite marks. He leaned over to press a kiss onto Aoba's neck. Aoba felt like he was going to be sick.

… He _was_  going to be sick. He bolted out of bed and barely found the bathroom in time. The door wasn't closed, and Trip could probably hear Aoba puking his guts out, but that was the least of Aoba's worries.

Eventually, his stomach was empty, and Aoba went to wash out his mouth. When he caught sight of himself in the mirror, he let out a broken sob.

Bruises covered Aoba's body. Some of them looked like hickeys, and some were obviously deep bite marks, but some of them looked like he had fallen down stairs, or been hit by a truck. A cut ran down his lip, and both his eyes were black and swollen. There was a bandage wrapped tightly around his ribcage, which was painful to touch. Bandages were also wrapped around his knuckles.

Every inch of his body hurt. 

"Quit crying and get back in bed. You were the one who wouldn't let me patch you up." Trip called. Crying...? Aoba hadn't even noticed, but when he wiped at his face, it was definitely wet. But he couldn't stop himself. He wrapped his arms around his knees, and sobbed harder. How drunk did he even get last night?

 _Drunk enough to fuck Trip. Drunk enough to like it, too,_  some part of his brain told him.

"God damn it, Sly." Trip said from the bedroom, and Aoba heard him get out of bed. Sly. There was that word again. Why the hell did Trip keep calling him that?

"Don't sit like that. Your ribs are already broken, you'll perforate your organs like that." Suddenly, Trip was in front of Aoba. He was completely naked, just like Aoba. Also like Aoba, he was covered in bruises and bites, though his looked far less painful. "Are you even listening to me, Sly? Sly?" 

Trip kept saying that word, and Aoba had a mind to ask him what he meant. He would, if he had the ability in him to stop crying.

"I guess this means the fun's over." Trip sighed and kneeled down, so he was eye-level with Aoba. "Sly, if you don't stop crying right now, I'm going to slap the shit out of you." 

That just made Aoba cry harder. True to his word, Trip landed a loud slap on his cheek, stinging his already sore face.

Somehow, that brought Aoba back to his senses (at least enough so that he could have some coherent thoughts.) "P-Please tell me… Tell me we didn't..." was what came from Aoba's trembling lips first.

"Are you stupid? Me and Virus have been fucking you for three nights straight." Trip sounded almost angry. What? Three days? Aoba looked at Trip in confusion. He must have been messing with him. "Well, minus the times you snuck out and picked fights with those Agent Orange guys."

"W-What do you mean three nights?! What is today?" Aoba was terrified. He wasn't an experienced drinker, sure, but you didn't just lose days at a time from getting blackout drunk once.

"Mmm, the 22nd. Are you alright? You probably got your head hit too hard in that fight last night." Trip paused to laugh, and Aoba painfully realized it was his birthday. This was certainly a warm welcome into adulthood. "You're fucking wild, Sly."

"Who the hell is Sly?" Aoba finally asked.

"Er, you? You asked me to call you that after you beat the shit out of Agent Orange the first time, you said that your name wasn't Aoba… Oh my fucking god." Trip went from looking unimpressed to looking like a child with a new toy almost instantly. "You've got fucking multiple personalities, don't you? Those guys in that alley where we found you were giving you shit, so Sly took control? And Aoba just came back."

Aoba was completely lost. "What?"

"Sly must be what you use to cope with situations like that, eh? You're lucky someone as nice as me and Virus found you. He's got a self-destructive streak." 

Multiple personalities? That sounded like a load of bullshit at first, but the more Aoba thought about it, it made sense. He lost time a lot when he felt stressed, or scared, but he attributed that to him just having a bad memory and weird anxiety. But for some reason, what Trip had said made much more sense. He had another person living inside of his head.

Aoba sank down deeper into his arms. "Why didn't you take me back to the apartment? Koujaku and Mizuki must be worried sick." He sighed, and his voice wavered. 

"They are. Sly wouldn't let us take you back, though. He only wanted to fuck and fight. He got violent if we tried to bring you back, so we kind of just decided to go with it. We both took you the first night, then Virus had you, and last night was my turn." Trip grinned at the memory. "They think I'm out looking for you right now, and they think Virus is going to take over the search tonight. But luckily I seemed to have found you. You're lucky you snapped out of this now, before they went back to America without you."

Everything Trip said sounded so cold and distant, like he didn't really care. Hell, he probably didn't; Aoba seemed to be a lot less fun than Sly.

"Oh god, what am I going to do?" Aoba started to cry again when he remembered the 'fun' that Sly had had in Aoba's body.

"I don't know. There's a reason I joined the Yakuza instead of doing something with my psychology degree." Trip shrugged. "But do you want to know what I recommend you do?"

Aoba nodded tearfully. 

"Don't tell Mink a word. For your safety, and Virus and I's. I don't know what he's like now, but when he was here… I'm just saying, he's killed people for less. He beat the shit out of me because he didn't like the corporation I watch over." 

Mink... was that violent? Trip had to be lying to him. Mink braked for birds. Mink voted for John Kerry. Mink wouldn't drink milk unless the cows were treated with respect. Mink could never, ever beat anyone, let alone  _kill_ someone. 

"Don't believe me if you don't want to sully your boyfriend's perfect image. But all I'm saying is," Trip raised his arm to show Aoba a deep scar on his side. "That fucker knows how to collapse a lung in about 3 minutes of fighting. But hey, maybe he'll bring Sly out, and he can explain."

"I… I need to get back to the apartment. Can you take me, Trip?" Aoba asked, standing up slowly. His joints ached from sitting, and the rest of his body still hurt because of Sly.

"And get all the credit for finding you? Hell yeah, I can. Get some clothes on and give me a few minutes to come up with a lie that'll keep me, you, and Virus out of trouble." Trip grinned, and helped Aoba up. 

As he walked painfully to the bed, Aoba cringed. He was going to be in so much trouble. Happy birthday, indeed.

 


	19. Chapter 19

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Virus grinned when Aoba and Trip walked through the door. Aoba visibly recoiled from the man. Though he may not have remembered what Virus had done to him (or more specifically, Sly,) he still didn't want to be greeted by the man.

"Aoba!" Koujaku called, and jumped up immediately to run to Aoba. "What the hell happened to you?!"

"It's a really long story." Aoba sighed. He honestly felt like crying again. 

"You look like shit. Do you need a hospital?" Virus called from the couch, and all Aoba could do was glare at him. That fucker knew exactly what had happened to him, and was likely the cause of a few injuries himself. 

"He should be fine. I found him stumbling around the North District, beaten to a pulp. I patched him up as much as I could." Trip said, and he wore a shit-eating grin and looked straight at Virus.

"Come upstairs, I need to check you out." Koujaku said, and Aoba nodded. 

Walking was hard. With his broken ribs, not to mention the pain in his backside from what Virus and Trip had done to him, it was a wonder he even made it back to the apartment. He stumbled forward to Koujaku, who caught him and put his arm around his shoulder for support. "You aren't going to make it upstairs. Virus, Trip, I'm going to look over him in your room." 

"That's fine," Virus said, and Koujaku started to help Aoba to the bedroom on the lower floor.

Once they were in there, Koujaku shut and locked the door. "Shit, can you... can you take your clothes off? I need to see what sort of damage you have."

Aoba shrugged off his coat and tried to pull off his shirt, but winced in pain. He really was sore all over. How had he managed to get his clothes on in the first place? Koujaku ran over to help him out of it. After that, he stepped out of his jeans and stood in front of a wide-eyed Koujaku in only his boxers.

"Your boyfriend is going to beat fifty shades of shit out of me…" Koujaku said.

"Don't bring up your erotic novels at a time like this," Aoba chuckled, his chest hurting when he did.

Koujaku wasn't laughing, though. He started to unwrap the bandage around his rib cage. "You don't wrap broken ribs. And you definitely have broken ribs."

Aoba looked down to watch Koujaku, when he noticed something. His neck was bare. The necklace Mink had given him was gone.

"Koujaku. Koujaku, my necklace is gone." Aoba started to panic. Mink was already going to be so mad at him for the things Sly had done, but now… Mink was going to hate him.

"That's the least of your problems right now. Aoba, we need to take you to a hospital, you are in no state to fly! What the hell did you even do?" Koujaku asked.

"I don't know. I… I honestly don't remember. Someone else was controlling my body and my mind and I _don't_ remember what he did." Aoba said softly, his voice shaking.

"Aoba, what are talking about? Did you take anything weird at Platinum Jail?" Koujaku wore a concerned look on his face.

"Trip found me the first night when I left the bar. He and Virus lied when they said they were looking for me. He told me I said my name was Sly and that I was different. And that Sly refused come back. I don't remember anything before this morning." Tears had started to silently stream down Aoba's face. He was still in shock about the ordeal.

"Those Yakuza assholes! I'll fucking kill them- why didn't they tell me they knew where you were? Mizuki and I have been looking for you for days!" Koujaku shouted. 

"Please don't lose your temper, they were only doing what I- I mean, Sly, asked," Aoba put his hands out and grabbed Koujaku's shoulder. "But Sly asked for so, so many things…"

"What did they do to you?" Koujaku lowered his voice, but Aoba could tell that he was fighting the urge to scream. 

"They let Sly fight gangs. And they let him… they did... they did _things_ to him." Aoba whispered. Koujaku's jaw dropped. He reached out to cup Aoba's face for a second, but dropped his hand quickly. 

"Aoba, I don't know if you really have an… alternate personality, or if you were drugged, or what. But if you really don't remember a thing, and those men raped you-" Koujaku started, but Aoba cut him off.

"It wasn't rape! Trip said Sly _wanted_ everything. Begged for it. But he used my body to do it. It wasn't my mind but it was my body. Sly did it. Aoba would never, ever-" Aoba stopped talking mid-sentence. "Mink is going to leave me when he finds out. Mink is going to leave. He's going to leave, Koujaku, he's going to leave!"

"Aoba's body was used without Aoba's consent. It didn't matter if Sly or a blackout Aoba was in control. If Mink can't accept that, then he isn't man you want in your life." Koujaku's voice was firm. In a smaller voice, he added, "You can find someone better." 

"It's not that, it's… I lost his necklace, Koujaku, the necklace from his village, I lost it. He's going to hate me, he's going to leave-" Aoba was hyperventilating. It was a small thing to worry about it, especially in the face of something like his potential severe mental disorder, but the thought of returning to Mink without such a precious artifact terrified him.

"I'll go look for it as soon I know you're going to be alright." Koujaku said. His face held a look of determination. 

"Koujaku- thank you-" Aoba said. He was still crying and hyperventilating, but Koujaku's words made him feel better.

"Don't mention it." Koujaku sighed, glanced up and down Aoba's body. "Do you think you should go to the emergency room?"

"No, I think I'll be fine. Sly probably wouldn't do anything that would hurt himself too badly." Aoba responded, but he really didn't know. Aoba didn't know him, Trip had said Sly was self-destructive. 

"Mmm. Then I'll go out to look for your necklace before it starts to get dark." Koujaku walked towards the door, and Aoba followed. After unlocking the door, however, he turned towards Aoba and pulled him into a hug. The sudden weight on his sore body made him cringe, but he hugged his friend back. "I was so worried about you, Aoba."

"Don't be so embarrassing, Koujaku." Aoba grumbled. 

"Sorry." Koujaku let go of Aoba. "I don't care about Sly, by the way. I don't know what he is, but I know… you're Aoba, regardless of who else you may be. And you'll always be my best friend."

"So embarrassing!" Aoba scolded, but smiled slightly after he did it. "Thanks, Koujaku."

-

"Trip told me what happened. I assume you told Koujaku." Virus had been trying to talk to Aoba for almost an hour, but Aoba had been ignoring him. Koujaku had left with Mizuki to look for Aoba's necklace, and Trip had followed to keep an eye on them. "I thought you were just two-faced at first, but he informed me that Sly-san and Aoba-san are two completely different people."

Aoba stayed silent. 

"I've never played with someone who had multiple personalities. How about you forget about America, and stay here with us? It would surely be worth your while, and Sly-san's too."

"I'm going home. And I'm not coming back here without Mink with me." Aoba didn't know if Mink would still be willing to travel with him, let alone even date him, after he explained everything. But he just wanted Virus to leave him alone, so he would have said anything. 

"I'm not Trip. I'm not afraid of that red-skinned, overgrown child." Virus spat. He was suddenly very angry. Aoba narrowed his eyes at the racist comment, but didn't want to let Virus know it bothered him. "Ask him about how he broke his femur. It was pathetic. Go on, text him right now." Virus gestured to Aoba's phone, which was charging. He was happy that it died while he was in Platinum Jail, and that Sly had no access to it. Aoba ignored him.

"Hmph, it's fine. I understand that it's important to keep up your image of him. If you had further trauma, Sly-san would probably come right back out." Virus grinned when he said it, and looked like he would love nothing more than to force Sly to surface. He probably would, if he didn't have a reputation to keep up with. 

"You know, Trip and I might just follow you to America. You're too much of a catch to let go." Virus still wore that wicked grin.

"You wouldn't dare." That got some emotion out of Aoba.

"You're right. It's not a very sane decision, after all." Virus shrugged. He seemed like he wanted to say more, but the door to the apartment opened, effectively silencing him.

Koujaku walked in, and Trip wasn't far behind. "That was entirely unproductive," the blond at the door called. Koujaku shot him a look so angry it could have killed, and Virus looked at him quizzically. Aoba could feel his heart sinking; they must not have found it, and they were heading back for Tokyo the next morning, and getting on a plane back to America after that. There wasn't enough time to search all the places Sly had been, even if Aoba knew where they were.

"Mizuki is still looking around the North District. He'll keep looking until he finds it, even if he has to mail it to you." Koujaku said sadly. "I'm very sorry, Aoba."

"It's fine," Aoba answered. It wasn't, and Aoba wanted to tear his hair out when he thought about how he lost something so special and how Mink would probably never want to see him again, but he wasn't going to voice those concerns.

"What are you all talking about?" Virus asked. 

"It seems like Aoba lost something precious that his boyfriend gave him." Trip answered.

"Oh, you mean this?" Virus dug through his pockets for a moment, then pulled something out. 

It was Mink's necklace. The feathers on the pendant were ruffled, and a bead or two was missing, but Aoba recognized it instantly. That asshole had had it the whole time, while Aoba had sat having a panic attack over it! "I'm glad I had a mind to keep it away from Aoba-san during his little episode, who knews where it could have ended up. Here you are."

Cold hands were suddenly on Aoba's neck as Virus slipped the necklace over his head. They made him flinch; he was glad he didn't remember them touching his body.

Koujaku seemed angry that Virus had hidden the necklace as well. "Come on, Aoba. Let's go. Can you handle the stairs?" 

"I'd rather deal with a bit of soreness than to stay down here, honestly." Aoba had long since stopped caring about offending the two Yakuza. How much more could they possibly hurt him? He stumbled to the wall to get his phone, and Koujaku helped him up the stairs.

"Happy birthday, by the way. In all the panic, I had forgotten to tell you earlier." Koujaku said once they were in the room they were sharing. 

Aoba let out a long sigh, and lowered himself onto one of the beds. "If this is what adulthood is like, I think I'd prefer to be 17 forever."

 


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i did an intensive college visit and sat in on two college classes and walked around campus all day (side note: the university of kentucky is a ridiculously large university) so im exhausted, apologies in advance if its weird I was too tired to edit too much

Aoba arrived home in the early hours on the 25th. Tired and utterly exhausted, he dragged his luggage upstairs and crawled under his covers, not even bothering to take his clothes off. 

He woke up when the sun was setting. After forcing his sore body (Koujaku was right, he was definitely not in shape for a trans-Pacific flight,) out of bed, he walked to the mirror to see just how grotesque he looked.

It was bad. Aoba gasped when he saw his reflection. The bruises on his face were starting to yellow, but there were several dark purple ones scattered over his skin still. His lip probably should have been stitched up, but Aoba was doubtful that Sly would have let him go to a hospital. He looked down to his knuckles, the only other exposed part of his body. They were bruised and swollen, and obviously broken. Tae would have to patch them up. 

Aoba cringed when he thought of Tae. She hadn't seen him yet, and would throw a fit at his current state. But she needed to know, and Aoba was going to be the one to tell her. 

Gathering all his courage, Aoba picked up the bag of souvenirs he had bought for Tae, and walked out of his room. "Granny! I'm up!" He called. 

"In the kitchen, I have dinner for you!" Tae responded.

"I'll be right down. Er, don't freak out, okay?" That probably was a bad thing to yell out. It probably only would make her more likely to freak out. But Aoba tried, anyways.

Tae didn't answer, and it was an uneasy silence. Aoba sighed and started coming down the stairs.

"I come bearing gifts!" He yelled when he was still in the foyer, where Tae couldn't see him. He made his way into the kitchen, and ignored an audible gasp from his grandmother. "I have incense, and chopsticks, and spices, and this mug. Look, see, it's from the store Mom worked at! And this shirt for you, it says 'I Heart Tokyo,' but the heart is the Japanese flag-" 

"What on Earth happened to you, Aoba?!" Tae exclaimed, nearly dropping the plate she held.

"It's kind of a funny story, actually." Aoba laughed nervously. "You, er, might want to sit down."

-

"… You say another, more violent personality took over?" Tae asked after Aoba had explained everything. (Minus a few of the dirty details, anyways. She didn't need to know that the Yakuza got involved, and she definitely didn't need to know the level to which they were involved.) She knitted her eyebrows in frustration, and lowered her head. "I thought you had gotten over this."

"What do you mean?" Aoba asked. As far as he knew, this was the first time Sly had come out. This was the first time Aoba had ever been in enough danger to warrant Sly coming out. 

"I guess if what you're saying is true, then you wouldn't remember. Aoba, do you remember why we moved to Arizona?" Tae asked.

"Because I was being bullied."

"No. Youu were being beaten. Almost on a daily basis. One day you beat them back, you sent those children to the hospital. And you were different after that. Violent and rude. For a whole summer after you beat up your abusers, you were like that. You… asked me to call you Sly that summer. I moved you here hoping to bring some sense into you, and it worked."

"I don't... Granny, I don't remember any of that." Aoba was a little scared. He didn't remember much about that time, but he could always vaguely recall at least a few details. But for an entire summer to be gone, while someone else controlled his body? That terrified Aoba.

"You wouldn't. Not if Sly is a different person from Aoba."

"I… guess you're right." 

After that, the two ate dinner in silence. 

-

'I want to see you.' 

Mink had sent that while Aoba was eating dinner. Though Aoba wanted to see Mink as well, he was nervous. 

Mink didn't know a single thing. Aoba hadn't actually talked to him since he left Tokyo, after racking up some hefty international phone bills. Mink didn't know about Trip, or Virus, or Aoba's injuries, or Sly. Even though Aoba had decided he would tell Mink, and tell him _everything,_ he was still scared. 

It wasn't normal for someone to have more than one person living in their head. Aoba knew that, and even though he was strangely calm about the whole thing, Mink had every right to call him a crazy, unfaithful asshole, and tell him to fuck off. If Aoba was in his position, he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't do it.

That's why it took Aoba a good hour to type back a simple 'Okay' to Mink.

'If you don't want to, I understand. There's a 17-hour time difference between here and Japan. You must be tired.' Aoba could have screamed. Mink was such a kind person, and Aoba was probably going to make him so much less kind.

'No, I want to see you! It's just I kind of got a little beat up. I can't really hold my liquor it seems' Aoba sent back. It was a white lie; liquor may have gotten him into the situation, but was not the cause of his injuries.

'I'm coming to see you right now.' 

Mink was determined, and there was no way Aoba could have stopped him, even if he wanted to. That was probably for the best. Mink needed to know some things, for better or for worse.


	21. Chapter 21

Mink's Volvo pulled into Aoba's driveway, and Aoba could feel his hands shake. He had all but convinced himself that Mink would overreact, and likely hate him for the things he had done.

What's worse was, Mink had decided that he was going to introduce himself to Tae now that Aoba was 18. That was an added anxiety; Aoba was worried to death that Tae would disapprove of his much older, gruff boyfriend. 

Aoba ran down the stairs as soon as he saw that Mink had pulled up, but Tae had beaten him to the door. She was old, but she was still fast. She opened the door for Mink with a scrutinizing look on her face.

"So, you're the man my grandson has chosen to date?" She interrogated before Mink had even gotten inside. Aoba had told her in the past that Mink could speak Japanese, and now he was starting to regret that. Maybe it would be better if the two couldn't communicate.

"I am." Mink said. His Japanese sounded a bit better from the last time Aoba had heard him speak it. He looked at Aoba, and his eyes held worry when he saw the injuries to his face, but he didn't say anything to interrupt Tae.

"How old are you? You certainly aren't Aoba's age."

"28." Mink had finally wormed his way into the house and out of the chilly spring air.

"You two have been dating for over a month. So you dated him when he was underage."

"I wasn't aware he was underage when I began our relationship. I can promise you, I've done nothing of a sexual nature to Aoba."

Aoba didn't have to worry about hiding his bruises after that; his face was red enough that they were barely noticeable. 

"Hmph. And what do you do for a living?" Tae asked, and Aoba's eyes widened. No way would Mink tell her the truth.

"I'm currently doing freelance work. I'm moving to Washington DC during the summer to start a job at the Smithsonian Museum of Native American History."

"So you're planning on leaving Aoba behind." Tae scowled, and Aoba felt his stomach drop. Oh. He had been happy Mink had gotten the job, and he had never thought about it like that. He hadn't realized that Mink would be leaving to do it.

"Aoba is an adult now. If he wishes to follow me, I won't stop him. I would welcome him to, in fact." Mink answered. Aoba's eyes widened and his heart sped up at that. Did Mink just low-key invite Aoba to move in with him? Aoba was experiencing such a range of emotions in such a small span of time.

"I wouldn't put it past the boy to follow you." Tae looked up at Mink for a second. "Religion?"

"I worship my tribal gods."

"Political views?"

"Staunchly Democrat."

"Sexual orientation?"

"Granny!" Aoba had kept quiet through the entire interrogation, but couldn't stop himself from shouting out at that. What an invasive question!

"Gay." Mink seemed to completely ignore Aoba's interjection. 

"Do you do drugs?" Tae ignored Aoba as well. 

"I smoke an herbal mixture, one passed down by my tribe. It isn't technically drugs, but I felt I should be truthful." Aoba hadn't detected a lie from Mink yet, but he knew that that one was. Mink smoked pot occasionally to unwind. But Tae didn't need to know that.

"Hmph. You've passed, but only barely." Tae grumbled. Aoba knew that that meant she liked Mink; she vocally expressed her hatred of Aoba's last boyfriend. "Go ahead and talk to Aoba. I've noticed you eyeing him this whole time. He's probably got a few things to explain to you."

Mink nodded. "I'm glad to have met you, Tae."

"Tae-san, to you."

"Tae-san." Mink nodded, and followed Aoba up to his room.

"She may seem cranky, but I promise she likes you." Aoba said after the door was closed behind them.

"I'm glad I've gotten her favor." Mink said, and then there was a tense silence for a while. "You gonna tell me what happened to your face?"

"I've thought over how I was going to explain this to you since it happened, and I haven't found a way I like yet. I guess... do you know anything about multiple personalities?" Aoba sighed, and sat on the edge of his bed.

"It's not unheard of to me. A woman in my tribe had three personalities that she would switch between, and I knew her quite well." Mink didn't sit. He stood at Aoba's door and started intensely at him.

Aoba couldn't make eye contact with Mink as he continued speaking. "I think… I have another personality."

"And what makes you say that?"

"I was drunk, and I went outside of the club to puke, and these guys came up to me. They thought I was a girl, and they, uh, recognized your necklace. I guess they were in a rival gang, or, whatever. They mentioned you by name." Aoba paused and looked at Mink, who held his fists and jaws clenched. Oh no, this wasn't good. He was mad. Probably at Aoba, for getting himself into a gang fight. 

"They tried to assault me. They said it would be really special to fuck one of Mink's girls." That was probably something he shouldn't have brought up, but he couldn't stop himself. Mink took a loud, shaky breath.

"I blacked out once they came at me. And I woke up three days later with no memory of the past few days. I had no idea how I got so injured, until… you're gonna be so mad at me. Promise you won't be mad at me." Aoba's voice wavered and he whispered the plea. He sounded so weak, and he knew Mink probably would have at him laughed if he wasn't so mad.

"I promise."

"Okay, uh, it's a long story but we kind of got two members of the Yakuza to do whatever we wanted as presents. Well, Koujaku did. They were supposed to keep us safe in my hometown, because, apparently Midorijima is really dangerous and riddled with gangs now." Aoba kept his voice low. Tae didn't know about this part of his story.

"They were pretty shitty people, obviously. They were in the Yakuza. But they found me after I blacked out, and they said I was different. That I had beat the shit out of the guys attacking me. I refused to answer to Aoba, I called myself Sly and that I didn't act like Aoba at all. Which is why I asked you that thing, about multiple personalities." Aoba sighed. He would have to tell Mink the worst part of his story soon.

"So, this 'Sly' took control of your body away from Aoba. And the things Sly did with your body got you injured against your will." Mink took it in, and Aoba nodded.

"Granny said that I've shown signs of this before. That this isn't the first time Sly has come out. I got beat up a lot in California. He protected me from the bullies then, but he would always get me in trouble too." Aoba admitted. 

"Sly doesn't want anyone but him hurting Aoba's body." Mink said.

"I guess. I… Mink, one of the Yakuza members told me the things Sly did with my body. He did terrible things…" Aoba didn't want to tell him, but he knew he had to. He couldn't keep a secret like this.

"I don't care. Aoba didn't do these things. Sly did." Mink said firmly. 

"No, Mink, Sly did them with _my_ body, he did these awful things and he used _me_ to do them." Aoba was starting to get panicked. Any second now Mink would probably explode on him in anger. As soon as he realized what Aoba was getting at, it would be over.

"I don't care, Aoba. That wasn't you, that was Sly." Mink said again.

"Mink, he fucked them! He had sex with those two Yakuza members and he used my body to get his sick thrills!" Aoba finally shouted, happy that he was speaking English so Tae wouldn't know what happened to him.

Mink let out an angry sigh. Oh no, here it came. Mink was going to scream, and he would leave, and Aoba would be alone with another fucking _person_ in his head who had the ability to take direct control of his body-

"Did Aoba's consciousness consent to doing what Aoba's body did?" Mink cut off Aoba's inner monologue. Aoba shook his head frantically. He had to make Mink understand that. "Then I'm not mad. I don't care what happened as long as Aoba didn't do it consensually."

"You mean-"

"I'll never let you get hurt again, so Sly will never be able to come back. So I don't care what he did, he's never coming back." Mink said. He walked to the bed and sat by Aoba. "This is all my fault, anyways."

"What? No, it's my fault-"

"I sent you to Japan wearing my gang's symbol. Wearing my own personal artifact. People aren't as scared of me as they once were, people wanted revenge… I should have known it wouldn't have protected you."

"I went out drunk with the Yakuza, I picked fights with gang members." 

"You aren't at fault." Mink sighed. "Did the Yakuza know who you were?" 

"Yeah, uh, they said they knew you pretty well. They recognized your necklace too." 

"Did you know their names?" 

Aoba hesitated to tell him. Virus had implied that their history was less than amiable, and Aoba didn't want to bring up bad memories. 

"Aoba, did you get their names?" Mink repeated himself. 

"Er, yeah. I don't think you'll be happy though. They didn't sound like they were your friends."

"None of the Yakuza were my friends. Who were they?"

Aoba exhaled a shaky breath and looked down. "Two blonde guys, named Virus and Trip."

Mink suddenly stood up. His eyebrows were knitted, and he looked furious. His normally emotionless voice dripped in rage as he said, "I should have killed those Yakuza bastards when I had the chance." 

"I don't want you to get violent, Mink. I've had enough violence for now." Aoba tried to be a voice of reason. 

"I want to hurt them for what they've done to you. I want to hurt them for what they did to me. I want to end their fucking lives."

"Mink-"

"I'm going to fucking kill them!" Mink shouted slammed his hand on the wall. He shook with anger. It scared Aoba; he had never once seen Mink this overtaken by any emotion, especially not anger. Trip had told him that he shouldn't have told Mink anything, for his own safety. But right now, Aoba wasn't scared for himself. No, Mink wouldn't lay a finger on him. However, Mink's determination could be dangerous to him, and Aoba didn't want him going back to the way he used to be. From everything he heard in Japan, Mink was different then, and there was no way Aoba wanted him to feel like that ever again. 

"Mink! They're in Japan!" Aoba yelled. Mink stopped, and turned to face him. "They're thousands of miles away! Just let it be for now, please."

"I can't let this be. I let it be when they hurt me, but they hurt you, they hurt my beloved-" Mink cut himself off and exhaled shakily. "I won't let them get away with this."

"Please. Just give it time. Try to let it go." Aoba stood and made his way to Mink. He hugged him from behind. "I don't want to think about them anymore. Can you just try?"

"They've hurt so much that's close to me. Aoba, I can't let this go." He was noticeably calmer with Aoba's arms around him, but he still sounded upset. 

"Try. Please. For me."

Mink sighed. "If I ever see them I'll beat their heads in."

"You'll never see them again." Aoba nuzzled Mink's muscular back. "I promise you."

Mink hummed. "Okay."

"Come to bed?"

"Yeah. Okay."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive fought with this chapter all day, I HATE it, they feel so ooc but im just gonna post it and move on and hopefully the next one makes up for it sorry guys


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to be longer and a lot more interesting but uh something rlly special happens (u should know what it is if u follow me on tumblr) and i think that what happens deserves its own chapter- which will be uploaded tomorrow so i will see u guys then
> 
> oh and warning I made a bit of a time skip like a month or so ahead bc i dont want to write filler I wanna get to that good juicy plot

Graduation night was spent by most students in a drunken fervor. Aoba knew that Koujaku was likely drunkenly grinding on some poor girl at a house party right then, and laughed at the thought. Aoba, after the bad experience he had in Japan, wasn't keen on getting drunk, so he was at Mink's house.

Mink wasn't there. He had left around 30 minutes ago, saying he wanted to get Aoba a gift to congratulate him for his graduation that day. He claimed he wanted it to be a surprise, so he left Aoba in his living room, waiting for his boyfriend to return.

Aoba didn't mind waiting. He was happy to be at Mink's house at all. In the past month, Mink had kept some distance between the two of them. It was understandable why; whenever Mink saw the bruises and injuries given to Aoba by rivals of his very own gang, it was hard on him. Mink told Aoba that it made him feel guilt, and anger, so Aoba let him keep his distance. 

But now, Aoba's bruises had finally healed, and his bones had mended. Mink had calmed down considerably, and Sly had made no more appearances. The events from Japan almost felt like a bad dream. Mink had come up to Aoba after his graduation ceremony, and invited him over to his house, and Aoba grinned. They had been on coffee dates, and Aoba found himself staying after school even though Mink no longer kept him there, but he hadn't been to Mink's home since the day before he left for Japan, so of course he had said yes.

-

Mink returned some time later with a large brown bag. "Got some things." He said, and Aoba nodded.

Mink set the bag on the coffee table, and then sat beside Aoba on the sofa. He pulled out a 6-pack of beer, and put it on the table. "I'm not much of a champagne guy." 

Aoba giggled softly. Beer was fine. He knew Mink wasn't going allow him to get drunk, but he could deal with a bottle of beer. 

"I got this for me, but I'm willing to share," Mink continued, and pulled a plastic baggie out of his pocket, and Aoba's eyes widened.

"You're going to let me smoke pot?" He asked. "You're a terrible influence on the youth of Arizona."

"You're not a youth anymore, and I'm not a teacher. So go ahead and do whatever you want." Mink shrugged, and twisted the cap off one of the beers. Aoba did the same, and took a drink. 

"Ugh, this is disgusting!" Aoba exclaimed. But he took another drink anyways. "Do you drink this regularly?" 

"It's an acquired taste." Mink said, then stood up and walked out of the living room. He came back a few seconds later with his long pipe. "Smoke if you want. Don't drink if you don't want to." 

Aoba nodded, and took the pipe. Mink handed him the baggie, and settled in to watch Aoba as he drank his beer.

Aoba had never smoked pot (or anything, except for a few puffs of cigarettes with Koujaku) before, but he had watched Mink pack his pipe with both his herbal blend and pot plenty of times. Surely he could figure it out. 

After staring at the pipe and baggie for a few minutes, though, Aoba realized he couldn't do it. It was over his head, and complicated. "Mink, help," he whined and gave his boyfriend puppy dog eyes.

Mink chuckled, and Aoba smiled. Mink, who was already an unexpressive kind of guy, had been much more stoic since Aoba came back. Aoba understood why, of course, but seeing Mink loosen up made Aoba very happy.

"It's easy. Weed in the bowl," Mink took the bag and pipe from Aoba and packed the bowl for him. "Then light it, plug the hole, inhale, unplug. Hold the smoke in, and then exhale." Mink pulled a lighter out of his pocket, then handed it and the pipe back to Aoba.

Once again, Aoba stared at the pipe. Light it, plug it, what? "Mink, I can't do this."

"You're thinking about it to hard. Relax." Mink took the pipe back, and raised to to his lips. He lit it, and took a big hit. He seemed to think for a second, before leaning over and pressing his lips to Aoba, exhaling the smoke into Aoba's open mouth.

Aoba's eyes flew open, but he inhaled the smoke coming from Mink's mouth anyways. It filled his lungs, and Aoba coughed. 

"That's strong," Aoba coughed out, his eyes watering. He already felt dizzy.

"It's kush." Mink shrugged. "Don't smoke too much. I want you to be sober enough for conversation."

"I still don't know how to use that pipe." Aoba smiled, and Mink sighed. He took another hit, and shotgunned it back to Aoba.

And then they were quiet for a while, and Aoba allowed his high to set in.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fuck this chapter its taken me like 3 days to write and im still not happy with it so im just gonna throw it at you guys
> 
> im awful at this fluffy filler shit im just ready to get back to the plot! but anyways. enjoy your porn guys you have definitely deserved it for being such awesome viewers and giving me so many kudos and comments and views

Aoba couldn't stop giggling. He was high; not extremely so, but enough to make him touchy-feely and smiley. He cuddled up to the side of Mink, and was happy when the older man didn't pull away. In fact, he put an arm around Aoba. He must have been feeling a little high, too.

"Mmm, Mink, kiss me." Aoba whispered, and Mink nodded. He leaned over, and pressed a peck to Aoba's lips.

"We can do better than that," Aoba grinned and pounced onto Mink's lap, giving him a deep kiss. He pulled away and grinned at Mink. "See? Much better."

Mink smiled up at Aoba, and Aoba grinned. He wrapped his arms around Aoba's waist, and Aoba moved to straddle him, and pressed another kiss on his lips.

"Hey Mink? Guess what?" Aoba whispered into Mink's ear after he pulled away. 

"Hmm?" Mink hummed.

"I'm 18 now, _and_ I'm not your student anymore." Aoba was purring. The pot was letting him unwind and do things he would be too embarrassed to ask for, at least like this, and Aoba was glad for it.

"What are you getting at, Seragaki?" Mink's voice was teasing.

"Oh, you know. I was just thinking that," Aoba leaned down and kissed Mink's neck. "Maybe you would touch me now?"

"You're high, Aoba." Mink said.

"Not really. Just a bit buzzed. I've wanted this for a while, anyways." 

"Are you sure you're fine?" 

"It's not like I'm drunk. You of all people should know-"

"No, I mean, are you fine doing this after what happened in Japan?" 

"Of course. I trust you." Aoba pulled his head back and pressed his forehead to Mink's. "You won't treat me badly." 

Mink hummed, and looked up into Aoba's eyes. "Alright."

"Really?!"

"Yeah." Mink took advantage of Aoba's position and low-cut shirt to start kissing at Aoba's collarbone. "Promise to stop me if you're uncomfortable."

Aoba couldn't respond, because he let out a loud moan when he felt Mink's lips on his sensitive skin.

To make things easier on him, Mink pulled off Aoba's shirt and began to kiss him again. A large hand came to Aoba's chest, and rubbed at his nipples.

Aoba felt lightheaded, and he was sure that it wasn't just from the pot he had smoked. He couldn't believe this was happening; Mink was finally touching Aoba the way he had craved to be touched. He let out a breathy moan, and grabbed a handful of Mink's long hair.

Mink pulled back for a moment to take in Aoba's bare chest and flushed body, and Aoba took a chance ans unbuttoned Mink's shirt. 

After all the time he spent fantasizing about Mink's muscles, Aoba finally got to see them as he pushed Mink's shirt off his arms. They were just as good as he imagined; rippling abs, tight chest, and arms that could probably lift a truck. Oh, Aoba was going to enjoy this. 

"Stay still," Aoba said softly, and he climbed off Mink's lap and kneeled in front of him on the floor. Mink gave Aoba a questioning look, and that spurred Aoba on. He stood up on his knees, and unbuckled Mink's belt. "This okay?"

"Do whatever you want to do," came Mink's reply. 

Aoba nodded, and threw Mink's belt to the floor. His heart beat rapidly; it had been so long since Aoba had done anything like this (and remembered it, anyways.) This was definitely the first time Aoba had done something like this with someone he cared for as much as Mink. He hoped it would be okay for Mink.

When Aoba moved to take off Mink's pants, Mink lifted his hips up to help Aoba out. Next came his underwear, freeing Mink's erection. He was huge, really huge. Aoba knew Mink was 6'2", with size 14 feet and he had assumed that he would probably be just as big below the belt. But Mink's cock was already around 7 inches long, and two inches thick, and he wasn't even fully hard yet.

"God damn," Aoba whispered. 

"Yeah. Sorry." Mink whispered back. 

"It's fine," Aoba said, and ran his tongue up the length of Mink's member, licking a bead of precome off the tip. Mink stayed stoic, but Aoba could hear his breathing pattern change. That made him smirk, and take the head into his mouth. He played with the head with his tongue, and started to take more of it in. When he started to bob his head, he felt a gentle hand push his hair out of the way.

It had been such a long time since Aoba had done something like this, and he worried about how well he was doing. However, if Mink's quickened breathing and steady stream of precum were anything to go by, he was doing alright. 

When his jaw started to hurt, Aoba pulled away and pressed kisses up the shaft of Mink's cock. He was disappointed he couldn't go any longer, but he was out of practice, and didn't want to go home slackjawed. He looked up at Mink, and attempted to give him a sexy look. "How was it?" He asked, and lapped at the tip of his cock.

"Bedroom." Mink grabbed the brown paper bag, and Aoba followed him to his bedroom, stripping out of his jeans as he went. 

Once he was there, Aoba didn't have much of a chance to take in the decor, as Mink pushed him down onto his bed and started to kiss him roughly. Mink palmed at Aoba through his boxers, and Aoba let out a moan. 

Suddenly, Mink was off of him, and Aoba whined at the loss of contact. He looked up to see Mink rummaging through drawers, and Aoba almost pleaded for Mink to come back to bed, when Mink turned to him, his fingers dripping in some sort of oil.

"Taste it," Mink said, walking back towards the bed, holding his fingers up to Aoba's mouth. Without even thinking, Aoba opened his mouth and let Mink slip his fingers covered in God knows what in. 

The taste of the oil was floral, and warm, and made Aoba feel at peace. He looked up at Mink dreamily, and Mink returned the look before leaning down to kiss Aoba, and taste the oil he had just given to Aoba.

The kiss didn't last long though, before Mink had broken away again and moved to the opposite side of the bed. He gently nudged Aoba's legs open, and ran his fingers up and down Aoba's thighs teasingly before pulling off his boxers. 

Mink started to play with Aoba's entrance with one of his oil-covered fingers, causing Aoba to blush and let out a small moan. Mink knew what he was doing, and he teased in all the right places. When he slowly pushed a finger in, Aoba tensed around the intrusion. It wasn't out of pain, really. Aoba played around with toys enough to know he could take much more than a finger. It was really more of a shock, more than anything, but Mink stilled himself anyways.

"We can stop if you'd like," Mink said seriously, and Aoba shook his head.

"No!" It was almost too eager, and Aoba blushed in embarrassment. "Please, keep going."

So Mink did. He pushed more of his finger in, and curled it inside of Aoba, causing him to groan out loudly.

Since Aoba wasn't the blushing virgin Mink probably thought he was, Mink was able to fit in two more fingers easily. After plenty of preparation, Mink leaned over to the brown bag on the floor, and pulled out a box of condoms. 

"You bought condoms?" Aoba giggled. 

"I didn't want to have unsafe sex." Mink tore open the condom, and discarded the wrapper onto the floor. 

"So you anticipated us having sex tonight?" Aoba asked.

"The thought crossed my mind. Better safe than sorry," Mink rolled on the condom, and looked down to Aoba. "Are you sure about this? You can stop me, it won't hurt my feelings."

"I've never been more sure about anything else," Aoba said, and it was the truth. He cared about Mink, and nothing was going to change that. Mink gave him a small smile, and cupped Aoba's face with one of his large hands. He positioned himself at Aoba's entrance, and slowly pushed into him.

Due to Mink's intense preparation, Aoba didn't feel any pain. In fact, once Mink was fully into him, Aoba let out a loud moan.

"Is it alright for me to move?" Mink asked after giving Aoba time to adjust, and Aoba nodded furiously. Mink gave a small thrust, and Aoba whimpered. It felt amazing; he was so full of Mink, so full of the man he cared so deeply for, there was no way it would feel anything but amazing. 

When Mink started to thrust harder, Aoba wrapped his legs around Mink's waist, pulling them closer. This change of angle allowed Mink to hit Aoba's prostate dead on, and Aoba let out a loud, embarrassing moan.

"Are you alright?" Mink asked, voice a little breathless and shaky.

"I'm fine, just-ah! Don't stop!" Aoba managed out, thrusting his own hips back down onto Mink's. 

When Mink was sure Aoba was alright, he started moving his own hips, timing his thrusts so that they matched Aoba's little needy ones. Steadying himself on one arm, he used his now-freed hand to reach down and stroke Aoba's leaking erection. 

Aoba took in a deep breath, and thrust against Mink even harder. With pleasure on both sides, he wasn't sure how long he would last. He whined needily, and it didn't go unnoticed by Mink, who started to stroke him faster. Aoba heard that he was breathing heavy too, and realized he must be nearing his climax as well. 

"M-Mink, I'm close-" Aoba sputtered out, and Mink didn't say anything back, but he grunted and started to work Aoba even harder than before. Aoba felt the pleasure pooling in his stomach, bringing him closer and closer to orgasm, when finally a well-timed thrust pushed him over his edge, and he came with a loud moan, spurting cum over his and Mink's chests.

Not long afterwards, Mink grunted loudly, and his thrusts slowed to a stop. He pulled out and pulled off his condom, tying it and throwing it into the trash before rolling over to lay by Aoba.

For a long while, the two sat in silence. They breathed heavily, coming down from their orgasm. Mink's gold eyes stared into Aoba's hazel ones, and at some point, Mink reached up to cup Aoba's face with his large hand.

Eventually, Mink broke the silence. "Was it good for you?"

"Fantastic," Aoba's voice was soft and a little hoarse. "Was it... good for you too?"

Mink nodded, and smiled. "We're lovers now," he said, making Aoba grin.

"Yeah," Aoba blushed a little bit red.

"I'm glad you decided to make this journey with me. You've made my nights a little less cold. I care very deeply for you, Aoba." Mink said softly, and Aoba's eyes lit up.

"I care a lot about you too." Aoba admitted, and Mink smiled again. Aoba shifted closer to his now-lover, and pressed a kiss onto his lips. He was starting to get tired, and was sure Mink would let him stay over, just this once. Aoba would tell Tae he was with Koujaku, he thought, smiled when Mink wrapped his arms around his body: one around his torso, and one around his neck so that he could stroke Aoba's long hair. Aoba could hear Mink whispering something, just under his breath, in Navajo. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was beautiful. 

At that moment, Aoba decided, everything was utterly perfect.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im a KouAo girl tbh and this was so weird to write and ive also been exhausted for 3 straight days and this chapter has added to it so sorry if its weird, I cant write porn


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> might be trying something new guys  
> if i like it I might write the next chapter from sly's perspective bc well you'll see why

A few weeks later, Aoba was at Koujaku's house playing XBox in his living room. Koujaku's parents were out of town, and the two decided to open up one of the many bottles of sake they had brought back from Japan.

Halfway through a match on Call of Duty, someone started to bang loudly on the front door, nearly making Aoba fall off the couch. He wasn't drunk, and neither was Koujaku, but there was an open bottle of sake on the living room table. Aoba feared for a moment that it was Koujaku's parents. "I thought we were going to be alone all weekend?" 

Koujaku glared to the door. "We're supposed to be. Shit, hide the sake." The banging continued, and Aoba put it under the coffee table and threw a blanket over it. It was the best he could do in such short notice. 

Koujaku stood up, and peaked out of the blinds. "That's not my parents' car. And it's not Mink's. Who the hell else do we know with a car?" He asked, and Aoba shrugged. He hadn't invited anyone. "It's probably those people from the selective service again. I'm not signing up for the draft!" Koujaku shouted at the door, but the knocking continued.

"I'm gonna open the door, god damn. I hope this isn't some murderer or something." Koujaku walked to the door, and Aoba shrugged and went back to his game. 

He didn't look up when Koujaku opened the door. Like Koujaku had said, it was likely someone trying to force Koujaku to join the draft, or a Mormon or something. It was around 9 PM on a Friday, though. They sure were getting later and later. He honestly didn't care about who was at the door, until he heard a familiar voice, and he dropped his controller.

"Koujaku-san, Aoba-san, how nice to see you again!" It was a deep but cheery voice Aoba had never wanted to hear again. He pinched at his arm, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He wasn't, so he forced himself to to look up towards the door.

Somehow, against all odds, Virus stood at the door. Of course, since one was there, it was reasonable to assume that the other was too, and Aoba was right. After Virus walked into the house, Trip dutifully followed him.

Aoba felt his heart drop. He was absolutely speechless. Why the hell were they here? He felt his heart start to race, and cringed. He remembered what Mink said about killing them if he ever saw them; they sure were risking a lot being here. But why were they here at all?

After a few minutes of awkward silence from Koujaku and Aoba, Virus smiled. "You seem confused. No worries, I can explain everything. You see, Koujaku-san was supposed to come back to Japan after you arrived home safely. He wasn't done negotiating with his father." 

Koujaku's face fell, and Aoba looked to him in confusion. 

"I'm quite sorry to have to tell you this, Koujaku-san, but your father has passed away about two weeks ago. We took the liberty of finding someone to take his place for you, so there's no need to worry about that. We understood that you wouldn't be a proper Yakuza boss, and that your father's request was a bit ridiculous. We've only come to inform you of this."

"I don't buy that at all," Koujaku had seemed to have found his voice. "You could have just called me and told me that. What are you two getting at?"

"We would have called, but international phone calls are just so expensive nowadays." Trip laughed at his own joke. He walked forward and flopped down next to Aoba on the couch, making Aoba cringe. "Besides, I thought we were all friends?"

"Get the hell out of my house!" Koujaku demanded, but Virus shook his head. 

"I'm quite sorry, but all the hotels in the area are full. You'll have to deal with us for the time being." Virus shrugged. 

"Aoba, call your boyfriend." Koujaku stared straight at Aoba. It was the first time Aoba had been noticed since Virus had first walked in, and it startled him.

"Er, I don't know if Mink's the best person to call right now." Aoba said nervously. Mink had promised Aoba if he ever saw the two not-twins again, he would kill them. Aoba thought that wouldn't be a problem, considering they were in Japan, but right now it was a very big problem. There was no way Aoba wanted Mink involved unless he had to be, he didn't want that sort of anger coming from his boyfriend ever again.

"Woah, woah, woah. Aoba is right. We don't need to involve the big guy. We'll be good, we promise. We're only here on a visit." Trip stammered out. That was right, Trip was terrified of Mink. Virus, however…

"He doesn't scare me. Call him over, it would be nice to catch up." Virus smiled as he said it, looking straight at Aoba.

"Koujaku, I don't want to be around these guys. They give me the creeps." Aoba said in English.

"I speak English," Trip said, also in English.

Aoba turned and gave Trip a look. "Congratulations." He turned back to Koujaku and gave him a pleading look. "You know what they did to me the last time."

"I understand. You can leave if you'd like." Koujaku nodded.

"Come to Mink's house with me? I don't trust these guys, I don't want to leave you here with them." They did some pretty awful things to Aoba (well, Sly,) and he didn't want to know what they would do to Koujaku. They had to have some ulterior motive for coming, there was no way it was just to tell Koujaku he was off the hook.

"Yeah, alright." Koujaku said, and the two turned towards the door without even acknowledging Trip and Virus.

"Koujaku-san, Aoba-san, where are you headed?" Virus asked as they slipped on their shoes.

"Just out." Koujaku told hin.

"To Mink's." Trip had switched back to Japanese. 

"How fun! Tell him that Virus says hi. Ask him about how his leg healed for me, alright Aoba-san?" Virus sounded happy. Why the hell did he have to point out Aoba, anyways?

Aoba grunted, and left the house without even grabbing his things. Koujaku did the same. It was a dangerous business, dealing with likely-psychopathic criminals, and they wanted to be safe for the time being. 

"Don't tell Mink about Virus and Trip being here. He'll freak out. Just let me think of a lie." Aoba said after around 15 minutes of walking. It was a ways to Mink's house from Koujaku's. 

"I kind of want him to freak out. There are Yakuza members in my house!" Koujaku said. 

"Well, I don't really want my boyfriend to go to prison for double homicide, so let's keep this on the down low for the time being." Aoba said back. 

"Then what are we going to do? Should we tell the police?" Koujaku asked.

"Honestly, the police can't really do anything," a voice from in front of them called. Shit, it was Virus. Koujaku's jaw dropped, and Aoba felt heartbeat speed up. He didn't sound happy. "So this is a good time to tell you that we lied, isn't it? We came to America to tell you, yeah, but the main reason we came was to have a bit of fun. And you just ran away from us? And to a rival gang member, at that. It was very rude."

What the hell? Virus was absolutely giddy at the idea of Aoba going to see Mink earlier. Was he bipolar or what? He finally walked into their view, and Aoba could see that he held something in his hand.

"Leave us alone." Koujaku called out. "Aoba's boyfriend will be here any minute, and your scrawny ass will have no chance against him."

No, Koujaku, _don't_ lie to the dangerous gang member, Aoba urged his friend in his head. They both knew that Mink was at home, and he wasn't even expecting them to come over. 

"I'm not afraid of Mink. I've downed him before, and I'll do it again." Virus walked under a streetlight, giving Koujaku and Aoba a full view of him. Now that he was illuminated, Aoba could see what it was he held in his hand, and he panicked. Virus had a knife in his hand. A big knife. And he was walking closer and closer to Aoba and Koujaku.

Before he could register what was happening and calm himself down, Aoba felt himself start to black out. Before he fully lost consciousness, he heard Virus exclaim, "Perfect!" 

And then everything was black.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mink's going to be pissed c:   
> Its gonna be AWESOME


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sly is so fuckING FUN TO WRITE  
> oh and im gonna go ahead and say this right now. when i came up for the plot of hot for teacher, I only came up for it to this point, and I have no idea what im gonna write after this :D any ideas or suggestions would be helpful, otherwise ill trudge through on my own. so if I update slow in the near future, its bc I do not know what to write :)  
> also, Koujaku is my baby and I love to torture him so

Sly woke up as he felt his body start to lose balance. He shook his head to try and regain it, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar blonde face. 

"Virus? What the hell is going on?" Sly asked. They were definitely not in Midorijima anymore. 

"Just as I thought." Virus grinned. "Welcome back, Sly." 

"Sly?! You mean-" Someone yelled from behind Sly, causing him to whip around and put up his fists instinctively. Standing behind Sly was a tall Japanese man with long black hair and a red hoodie on.

… He was pretty cute. Sly gave him a grin, and put down his fists. "Hey there, babe. Who are you?" 

"Aoba? Can you hear me?" The attractive man asked Sly frantically, ignoring his question. Sly frowned slightly.

"Why do you people keep calling me Aoba? I've said it a million times. Call me Sly Blue. Or just Sly. Anything but Aoba. That's a stupid fucking name." He said forcefully, walking closer to the attractive man. The man was frozen on the spot, and Sly grinned. "So, I'll ask again. Who are you?" 

"Koujaku. You know me." So his name was Koujaku. Sly vaguely remembered Virus and Trip saying that name earlier, but he wasn't quite sure. His memory was faulty, at best.

"I don't. But I'd certainly love to get to know you," Sly was close enough to touch Koujaku, so he did. He reached out a hand and let it roam over Koujaku's chest. It was muscular, more muscular than Trip and Virus, anyways. 

When Koujaku didn't move, Sly took that as a good sign. He moved closer, and stood on his tip toes to kiss Koujaku on the lips.

And Koujaku kissed him back. The taller man twisted his fingers in Sly's hair until it almost hurt, and it made Sly moan into the kiss. This man could cause him pain, and he sure had a hot body. How fun. 

At least, it would have been fun if Koujaku wouldn't have pushed Sly away. "You're not Aoba, so I don't want this. It wouldn't be the real thing, it would be a lie… and it would be wrong to do that to Aoba, and wrong to do that to Mink." Koujaku sounded like he was talking more to himself than Sly.

"Wait. Does Koujaku-san love Aoba-san?" Sly heard Virus ask behind him, and Koujaku growled in front of him. "Oh, he does! How interesting!"

Sly turned around, completely ignoring Koujaku. What use was he if he didn't want to fuck, anyways? Love wasn't interesting to Sly.

"Tch. I'm really getting tired of this 'Aoba' bullshit." Sly walked to Virus and put an arm around his waist. "Take me somewhere and fuck my brains out, if Koujaku won't do it."

"I have something even better. How about I get you someone you can fight _and_ fuck?" Virus asked, and Sly grinned. 

"Oh, please. I'd do anything for a good rough fuck. You guys take it too easy on me." Sly laughed, and Virus slapped him on the face and grabbed him by the cheeks, before planting a kiss onto Sly's lips. Sly smirked at Virus, and Virus smirked a dangerous looking smirk right back. 

"Too easy, you say?" 

"Way too easy. Especially you. Trip would at least punch me and bite me properly." Sly wanted to rile up Virus. He knew the man in front of him was capable of causing great pain, it was all a matter of pushing the right buttons.

"Maybe some other time I'll hurt you the way you want to be hurt. How about we go see tonight's fuck, for now?" Virus asked, and Sly nodded. He may have been wanting Virus, but any dick would do.

"You get your hands off of him!" Koujaku yelled. Sly turned to look at him.

"Thank god you're pretty, because you're not very quick." He said, shocking Koujaku. The shock seemed to be what the dark-haired man needed to spur him into action, though. As soon as the words left Sly's mouth, Koujaku was at his side, pulling him away from Virus. 

"I'm getting you to Mink. He should know what to do. At the very least he'll keep you from getting into too much trouble." Koujaku said, and Sly looked to Virus.

"It seems Koujaku-san wants to bring you to your fuck. How polite." Virus smiled, and as soon as Sly realized that this Mink character was going to be the one to give him that pain he craved, Sly stopped struggling and allowed himself to be led wherever Koujaku wanted to take him.

'Wherever Koujaku wanted to take him' ended up being a small house about 10 minutes away. Koujaku pounded on the wooden door for a good 2 minutes before someone finally opened.

The man at the door was tall, and even more muscular than Koujaku. He was deeply tanned and had amazing bone structure. He had beautiful, long, dark hair, hair that would look amazing as Sly pulled at it. In fact, Sly could imagine this man's whole body during sex. Scratching down that sculpted chest until it bled, holding onto those huge arms for support, those big, callused hands wrapped around his neck... Sly prayed to whoever might be listening that this was that Mink guy Virus was talking about. 

The guy said something in English, and Koujaku answered him in English. Sly pouted. "What's happening? Is this Mink? Am I going to fuck him? Speak Japanese, damn it!" Sly yelled, and the man looked down at him with a harsh glare.

"Sly," was all the man said. 

"At least this one knows my name," Sly grinned. He reached out to touch his chest, but the man pulled away. 

"I'm leaving you with Mink-" Koujaku started, only to be cut off by Sly.

"So this _is_  Mink."

"I'm leaving you with Mink. He's going to keep you out of trouble until Aoba comes back."

"Who the hell is this Aoba guy? I should kick his ass." Sly grumbled.

"He speaks Japanese, but he probably won't talk to you. He probably won't fuck you, either. I'm going to make sure Virus didn't follow us." 

"I want to go back to Virus and Trip. This guy's boring. At least they'll fuck me." Sly said it loudly, wanting to convey to Mink what his true intentions were. Mink only glared at Sly.

"Stay here." Koujaku commanded. 

"Fuck you, you can't tell me what to do. If I want to leave, I will." Sly spat, and started to walk away before a big, strong hand grabbed his wrist. Mink' grip was tight enough to sting, and Sly turned back towards the muscular man. 

"You're staying here." Mink said. His voice was low and monotonous. It would sound like music to Sly's ears whispering filthy things into them.

"Fine." Sly pouted. Mink pulled him roughly into the house and threw him down on the sofa. How rude. "If you aren't going to fuck me, then don't bother roughing me up. It just turns me on."

Mink glared down at Sly, and Sly smirked up at him. "Why won't you fuck me? Not gay?" Sly laughed. "Because babe, I promise, my ass is 10 times better than any woman's. I know exactly where and how to touch you-" 

Sly had reached out to trace the outline of Mink's package in his jeans, but Mink grabbed Sly's hand roughly. 

"Don't touch me." Mink said harshly. 

"Don't be so uptight! Give yourself over to absolute, violent pleasure." Mink might have had his hands, but he was standing close enough for Sly to lean forward forward nuzzle his face against Mink's crotch. "I know you're hard. Just release all of your pent up tension on me. I want it as rough as you can give it-"

Mink yanked Sly up by the hair and then grabbed his cheeks. "Don't. Fucking. Touch. Me." 

Sly wriggled free and gave Mink a sexy look. He felt his cock growing in his jeans. Maybe if he pissed Mink off enough, he would hurt him just enough to give him the pleasure he wanted. Sly was pretty sure he'd be able to cum just from the pain this gorgeous man could give alone. 

"Why not?" Sly stroked Mink's stubbly face. Oh, how he'd love to feel the pain of that beard scratching up his inner thighs. "I promise you won't regret it." 

"I'm promised to another." Mink said. He shoved away Sly's hand.

"Tch. Monogamy is lame." Sly grinned. "Besides. They don't have to know." 

"I would never forgive myself." Mink said, and then walked away from Sly before he could be touched again. "If you move from that spot, I'm going to break your fucking ribs."

"Oh, don't tempt me," Sly flirted, but stayed still. He didn't want something that severe too soon, he wanted to have a bit of pleasure with it.

Mink returned back with some sort of smoking herb. He walked towards Sly, and wafted the smoke towards him as he said something in a language Sly didn't understand. 

Suddenly, Sly started to feel sleepy. He sat down on the sofa, and let his head fall back. Normally he didn't fall asleep like this, it normally took him quite some time to fall asleep. It was probably something to do with that herb that Mink burned. Sly really wanted to give him a piece of his mind, but decided to take a small nap first. When he came back to, he would give Mink what for. How dare he use that hoodoo magic on him? Sly shut his eyes and took a deep breath, and his world started to go black.

 


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this has been done for like a day and i totally forgot to upload it  
> im getting a feeling from this story and i think I might end it soon and im honestly debating on whether it should be a happy ending or not. so u all may hate me in 6 or so chapters

When Aoba woke up, his first thought was that he was sore. What had happened to him? He remembered being at Koujaku's house and then someone was at the door, but after that was foggy. Opening his eyes, he realized that he was at Mink's house. That was different. How on earth did he end up here?

And then he remembered everything. Trip and Virus were at Koujaku's house. They had told Koujaku that he no longer had to worry about his father's request. And then he and Aoba left for Mink's house. But why was his memory beyond that so blurry? He remembered walking, and then he remembered that Virus had shown up along the way. Virus came at the two of them with a knife, and then Aoba couldn't remember anything else.

That must have meant… oh no.

"Mink?!" Aoba yelled out. He was suddenly scared. What had happened? Where was Koujaku? Had Sly made an appearance? How did he end up at Mink's house? Tears pricked at Aoba's eyes and threatened to spill over. 

Mink walked into his living room with a sour look on his face. He held a burning stick of incense, and he glared at Aoba. Why was he so angry, had he seen Trip and Virus? Worse than that, had Sly done something wrong? 

"Mink, what happened to me?" Aoba struggled to find the English words, but wanted to make this a more comfortable conversation for Mink. He knew speaking in his rapidfire Japanese stressed Mink out.

As soon as he spoke, Mink's expression softened and he dropped the incense onto the nearest non-flammable surface. He nearly jumped over the coffee table to sit beside Aoba and wrap his arms around him. He was speaking softly in Navajo, and Aoba was confused. 

"What happened?" Aoba asked again, and Mink silenced himself. 

"They forced _him_ out of you." Mink said softly. He stroked Aoba's hair, and he sounded almost relieved. 

"But I prayed for your return, and the gods have given you back to me."

Oh no. Mink had met Sly.

"Please tell me he didn't do anything wrong." Aoba whimpered. He was about to cry. He hated his stupid disorder so much.

"Koujaku had the sense to bring him to me instead of leaving you with them." Mink said. 

"But did he do anything _wrong?"_

Mink paused for a moment, and it made Aoba feel sick with worry. "He tried to touch me. I had to fight with him to behave, I tried not to do anything that would hurt you, but I'm sorry for laying a hand on your body in that way." Mink sighed loudly. "He kissed Koujaku. But your friend is a good one, he didn't give into that devil's will."

Aoba realized Mink wasn't calling Koujaku by his last name, and now he understood why. He respected Koujaku now. But, the thought of kissing his best friend like that made him feel guilty. "Where… where is he? Please tell me he isn't with Trip and Virus-"

"He left to see if they had followed you. He came back a while ago. He sat with you for some time, watching over you while I spoke with the gods for you." Mink paused, and looked towards the hall. "He's asleep in the guest room. Your friend, he... cares deeply for you."

"He's a really good friend," Aoba nodded, and then nuzzled his head into Mink's chest. "Mink, what are we going to do?"

"Sly should never come back. I know our beliefs differ, but, trust that I've taken care of him. Regardless, I'll never allow you to be in another dangerous situation like that again. He'll never need to come back. I swear on my life this time." Mink said. 

"Mink… thank you." Aoba was a Buddhist, but he genuinely appreciated the effort and care Mink had put into his prayers for Mink. "What about Trip and Virus?"

"We'll deal with them. Tomorrow. It's late, and I need to sleep for now. But I promise you that they won't hurt you ever again." 

Aoba nodded, and nuzzled closer to Mink. He trusted him to keep him safe. It was all he had to trust just then.

Slowly, the two of them fell asleep, curled in each other's arms.

-

"We should honestly go find him," Aoba muttered.

The day had been a tense one. Mink had commanded Koujaku and Aoba to stay at his house, to sit in his bedroom with the curtains drawn and to not move from that room. That had been at midday, and it was nearing the evening now with no word from the older man.

"He told us to stay here." Koujaku was trying to be the voice of reason for once.

"He could be hurt. He could be in jail." Aoba was uncomfortable with this eerie silence that Mink had forced onto them. 

"He's a tough guy, Aoba. Isn't that what attracted you to him in the first place?" Koujaku stopped and laughed. "Besides, I doubt he would do anything to get himself arrested."

"He told me he would kill them if he ever saw them."

"Aoba. He's going to be fine."

"What if he isn't?" Aoba asked. "Besides, do you really want someone else solving your problems like this?" 

That stopped Koujaku in his tracks. Aoba knew Koujaku, and he knew what to tell him in order to get his way. 

"We need to go look for him." Aoba said after a few minutes of silence. 

"Yeah. Alright."


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw in this one for violence (so much) blood (so much) and probably sadness  
> you guys know i love you and would never hurt you intentionally right (thats a lie i crafted this chapter to hurt)

Aoba was probably going to live to regret the decision he was making. That didn't deter him, though.

It was just getting dark, and Aoba and Koujaku were searching their town, armed with flimsy kitchen knives at Koujaku's request. They hadn't found any sign of Mink at Koujaku's house, or Aoba's. After they searched there, they walked around town for a few hours, walking miles, looking for Mink's beat up Volvo. 

Just as they given up the search and turned to go back to Mink's house, Koujaku grabbed Aoba by the arm and pointed to their right. "There it is."

Aoba turned, and saw that Koujaku was right. Parked next to an alley was a green Volvo, covered in bumper stickers. There was no way it could be anyone but Mink's. 

Without even thinking, Aoba ran towards the alley. Koujaku ran after him and grabbed him. "Are you seriously going to run in there with no game plan? You're going to bring out Sly again!" He spoke in a hushed tone.

"Sly only comes out when I'm scared. I _want_ to do this." Aoba argued.

"How do you know that? If Virus and Trip are in that alleyway with Mink, how do you know that Sly won't come out at the sight of them?" Koujaku stopped, and dropped the angry tone. "I don't want to see you like that again. You're my best friend and… I love you. Sly is a fucking psychopath though."

"I've heard. Sorry about him kissing you, by the way." Aoba admitted sheepishly. Koujaku didn't respond. 

Suddenly, a loud yelp of pain was heard from the alley, even though the two were quite a ways a way from it. Aoba wasn't sure if it was Mink, or one of the not-twins, or maybe some homeless man injecting some sort of drug, but it made him lose any sort of reason. He yanked free from Koujaku's grasp, and ran towards it. Koujaku didn't follow him.

What he saw in that alley could have broken him, and he was actually sort of surprised Sly didn't immediately take over at the sight of it.

The three of them were all there, just as Aoba suspected. However, it was far more violent than Aoba could have ever imagined. Virus gripped a bloody, beaten, nearly unconcious Mink tightly by his beautiful long hair. His shoe dug into Mink's left thigh, and Aoba vaguely remembered Virus mentioning breaking Mink's femur before. The force of him pushing into his old injury like that probably hurt terribly. 

Virus and Trip were pretty beat up as well. Trip was obviously in pain, and he leaned against the wall while he clutched at his ribs. He coughed up a bit of blood, and his face was bruised and swollen. Virus had blood all over his face; dripping from his mouth and his likely-broken nose, and from cuts and abrasions covering his face as well. His glasses were gone, along with his usual cheery demeanor. The sight of them all struck Aoba with intense terror.

He must have gasped, or made too much noise, because Trip looked over to him and then grinned. "Virus. We have a visitor."

Virus took his gaze off of Mink, and turned to stare at Aoba with cold eyes. "Oh, Aoba-san! I'm glad you've come to see the show. You are Aoba-san, right?" 

"Of course it's Aoba. You can tell by that pitiful way he's shaking." Trip chuckled darkly. "Where's Sly?"

"He isn't here. I won't let him come back anymore." Sly only came out when Aoba was scared for his own life. Right then, he was scared for Mink. He didn't care about himself. 

He was also full of rage.

When Aoba spoke, Mink struggled to raise his head. Somehow, he met Aoba's eye, and gave him a pleading look. It was something Aoba had never seen on Mink, and it made him nervous. What had they done and said to him to make him look like that?

"I said stay at home, Aoba." Mink said. His voice was weak, and pitiful, and surprisingly full of emotion. It threw Aoba off. 

"I needed to help you." Aoba said back.

"I don't need help. I need you safe." It was said softly, and Aoba barely heard it. 

"How cute." Virus grinned. "You sent your boyfriend to save you?" 

Mink said something to Virus, and Aoba couldn't hear it. However, it made Virus scowl, so it couldn't have been a good thing. And then Virus said it. "I'll kill you and your little fucking boyfriend, you know."

As soon as the words were out of the older blond's mouth, Aoba spurred into action. He wasn't sure how he did it, but he ran to them and struck out at the closest target, which just so happened to be Trip. He hit him in his already injured torso with a well-aimed kick. How on earth did Aoba know how to do that? Probably Sly's instinct taking over, but that wasn't Aoba's priority just then.

When Trip started fall, Aoba grabbed him by the collar of his bloodied dress shirt, and yanked him so he was held close to Aoba. Aoba pulled that flimsy kitchen knife out of his pocket, and held it to Trip's throat.

"It's not much, but it'll open his throat as good as anything." All traces of fear left Aoba's throat. He was so filled with rage, that he felt like he was on autopilot. He held Trip effortlessly, despite his half-hearted struggles. Is this what it was like to be Sly? "You let Mink go or I'll kill _your_ little boyfriend."

Virus laughed, and just yanked Mink harder, making him grunt in pain. "Kill him. It isn't like he's my friend or anything. He's only my associate." 

"I took all those hits for you, and you're just going to leave me for dead with this little prick?" Trip's voice was full of an emotion Aoba couldn't quite put his finger on. It almost sounded like anguish. "I always take the hits for you. I went to prison for you! And you're saying we're not even fucking friendly?" 

"It's the truth, Trip, and you've known it since you forced this partnership years ago." Virus was right, he didn't seemed by his partner being held at knifepoint and begging for help at all. In fact, it made him focus on inflicting more pain on Mink.

Aoba gripped the handle of the knife tightly. He had to think quickly. Virus wasn't going to let up on Mink, and Mink's crime of pain were piercing Aoba's ears and making it all that much harder to concentrate. If Virus was going to hurt Mink any further, Mink could die. Aoba himself could die. But could Aoba really inflict a potentially fatal wound on Trip? He was an asshole, and probably deserved it, but Aoba couldn't kill anyone. It would tear him apart.

But Aoba didn't have much more time to ponder over it. 

"This is getting boring." Virus sighed. "Aoba, drop the knife and just let me do what I want to you two. Let's kill Mink, and bring out Sly. He'd do good in the Yakuza."

"Let Mink go!" Aoba pressed into Trip's neck, feeling the flesh tear and hearing Trip cry out in pain.

"So this is how you're going to be? Pity." Virus laughed a dark laugh, and reached for something behind his back. "I'll kill you both, then."

When his hand was back in Aoba's view, Aoba's heart nearly stopped. Because, held tightly in Virus's large hand, was a shiny black pistol. 

"No!" Aoba shouted, and started to act entirely on impulse. His adrenaline rushed through him as he slid the knife across Trip's neck, hearing the blond choke and sputter as blood started to pour from his ragged, open wound. Without even thinking about the consequences, Aoba ran towards Virus with the knife. 

Aoba heard Mink and Virus both shouting, but he couldn't comprehend a word that either of them was saying. He didn't care, either. All he cared about was getting that gun out of Virus's hand, and away from Mink. He had to save Mink.

As he neared Virus, there was a loud bang. Aoba realized the gun had gone off, and a moment later, pain flooded through Aoba's shoulder. He had been shot. Virus had shot him.

Though the pain was tremendous, Aoba tried to stay up. He kept coming at Virus. The gun discharged again, the loud noise causing Aoba's ears to ring. Luckily, this time Virus missed him, and Aoba was finally able to close the distance between the two of them. He plunged the knife into the fleshy part of Virus's stomach, and heard the man scream out in pain. The gun was dropped, and Virus fell to the ground as well. 

Finally done, Aoba dropped to his knees beside Mink.

"I saved you," Aoba grinned. The pain in his shoulder was unbearable, but with the adrenaline pumping through him, he couldn't help but feel a little giddy. 

Mink said something, but Aoba couldn't understand him. 

"It's fine, don't worry, I've saved you," Aoba repeated. "I saved you because I love you so much, because I need you to be alive."

Mink kept talking to Aoba, but Aoba wasn't listening. Somehow, he had ended up lying on his back over Mink's legs.

"Get me off of you, you're gonna get blood on your shirt, and I'll hurt your leg," Aoba attempted to roll away, but a strong hand kept him in place. His vision was starting to go black around the edges. Mink was screaming now.

"Give me a kiss before I go to bed. I want to take a nap, I'm sleepy," Aoba said faintly. He really was exhausted, he had suddenly realized. Something warm pressed against his lips, and, satisfied, he shut his eyes, allowing the encroaching darkness to take him over completely. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tru talk.... i was a little high when i wrote this and did 0 research on what happens when you get shot. so that may or may not be accurate so whoops


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there are at most two chapters left, the next one may be the last if I can manage to wrap it up in that. thanks you guys for the wild ride this story has been :)   
> (ps; this is my good ending if you were wondering!)

'I'm dead,' was Aoba's first thought when he woke up in a bright white room. 'I am dead and have just been reincarnated into a newborn baby.'

However, as he came to his senses, he realized that wasn't the truth. He was in a hospital room, alright, but he was still in his own body. Various IVs were in his arms, and he felt that almost his entire left side was covered in bandages. He didn't feel any pain, but assumed whatever drug the doctors had pumped him full of was the cause of that.

He remembered everything that happened to him, which was a strange occurrence for Aoba. Normally when he woke up in strange places, it was Sly's fault, so he didn't remember much. But he remembered everything. He remembered saving Mink, getting shot by Virus. He also remembered plunging his knife into the two not-twins, and was suddenly hit with a wave of guilt. What had happened to them? 

Aoba forced himself to sit up, and looked around frantically. The calmness he had woken up with had left him as he realized just what exactly had happened. He fought two Yakuza, and had possibly killed them. He saved Mink. But most immediately upsetting:  _he had gotten shot._

"You need to move as little as possible, Aoba. You'll open up your wounds." A familiar voice called from the corner of the room. Aoba immediately looked towards it, and felt his panic lessen a little bit when he saw who was there.

Mink sat in a chair in a dark corner. He looked bad; bruised and swollen, with his face stitched up in places. His arm was in a sling, and he had a full leg brace on his left leg. He also looked exhausted. But he surely couldn't look as bad as Aoba, the gunshot victim.

"You're here," Aoba smiled. 

"Yeah, I am. All thanks to you."

"How long have I been out?" 

"A day or so. They rushed you into surgery right away to remove the bullet from you and try to fix your shattered shoulder."

"And what about you?" 

"I've been through worse." Mink sighed, then looked at Aoba. "You were a dumbfuck for helping me. Do you understand that?"

"I'm a dumbfuck who saved your life," Aoba tried to shrug, but was unable to due to his shoulder. 

"I would have been fine." Mink looked away, and Aoba knew that that meant he was lying. 

"He was going to shoot you execution style." Aoba said bluntly. 

"Yeah. I guess you're right." Mink paused, then said, almost so softly Aoba couldn't hear him, "Thanks."

Aoba smiled in response, and let himself lean against his bed. "Do I not have any other visitors?"

"Koujaku and Tae were here, but Koujaku took her home to rest for a while. The woman has been a nervous wreck. You're certainly in for an earful when she gets back." 

"Mmm, yeah, I'll probably wish that gunshot had killed me when Granny gets to me." Aoba laughed, and looked away from Mink, and stared at the wall in front of him. There was still a question on his mind. "Mink? Can I ask you something?"

"Anything. I owe you that much."

"What happened to Trip and Virus? I didn't... you know. Did I?" The joking tone was gone. Aoba was genuinely worried about their safety. They were depraved, dangerous psychopathic criminals who had literally tried to kill Aoba and his boyfriend but, they were people, and Aoba would never forgive himself if he ended a life.

"They're both going to be fine. Thankfully, Koujaku had the sense to call emergency services when you ran into us. Trip came by earlier, but you were out. Said he snitched on Virus to get a plea bargain, and was going into witness protection. He told me he wanted to thank you for knocking some sense into him." Mink paused. "He also told me that Virus just got out of surgery, and is going to be facing plenty of charges. Attempted murder, assault, felony possession of a firearm, among other things. He's probably going to prison for a long time."

"That's good. That's all really good." Aoba said. He was so relieved that he hadn't killed either of them. 

"I've been waiting here for you to wake up since they brought you out of surgery." Mink said softly. 

"Really?" Aoba smiled. Mink was so thoughtful. 

"I've been meaning to tell you something." Mink said, and Aoba nodded. "I'm going to DC."

"Yeah. I know. I am too. We've had these plans for a few weeks now." Aoba didn't know what Mink was getting at.

"I'm going alone." Mink said harshly. 

"What?!" Aoba bolted up fast, and heard something rip, but he didn't care just then.

"I'm not healthy for you, Aoba. I'm just some old ex-gangster with some dangerous baggage." Mink had no emotion in his voice. 

"Mink, don't say that, I don't care about your past-" Aoba tried to argue, but Mink wouldn't have it.

"It doesn't matter if you don't care about my past. Other people do. It's because of me that you're even in this situation to begin with."

Aoba felt tears start to well up in his eyes. "So you're just going to break up with me because you think you're dangerous to me?"

"I got you shot, Aoba. I know I'm dangerous to you."

"No, I got _myself_  shot. I'm the one to blame here!" Aoba was shouting, but he didn't care who heard him.

"I'm going to DC, Aoba." Mink repeated. It seemed like he didn't have the fight in him to argue.

"And I'm going with you."

"No, you aren't." 

"When we talked about it before, you said it was up to me to do whatever I want in life. That was my responsibility and mine alone. So if I want to take this supposedly dangerous route and go with you, it's my choice!" Aoba was surely in hysterics by this point, but he just wanted to get his point across to Mink.

"When I held you in my arms as you bled out, I decided this. I won't be the cause of any more of your injuries." 

"Yeah, well, you decided this a bit too late. I already quit my job and packed up my things and got accepted to a school in DC. I'm going with you." Aoba was suddenly angry at Mink. He snapped at him despite the tears streaming down his face.

"Tell the school there was a change in plans." Mink said firmly. 

"No. Fuck you, Mink. I'm going to school and I'm going to DC with you. It isn't up to to decide what is and isn't dangerous to me!"

"I will not put you in harm's way anymore. You need someone better than me. You can find someone better than me." Mink paused, and then sighed. "Your friend Koujaku is in love with you. Be with him, he'll treat you far better than I can." 

Aoba stopped. What? Koujaku was in love with him? What did he mean? There was no way. But he didn't have time to think about that just then. "I don't want anyone but you."

"Aoba. I can't have this conversation anymore. I've made up my mind, and I can't let you change it." Mink wouldn't look at Aoba. "No matter how deep our bond is, I can't risk losing you."

"Mink-" 

"I'm leaving, Aoba. I'll be gone by the time you discharge. Do whatever you want to do." 

And with that, Mink got out of the chair he had sat in, leaving Aoba alone and sobbing in his hospital bed.  

 

 

 


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is is  
> this is the end  
> this fic has been a labor of love and thank u all for the kudos and reviews! ive cherished each and every one. expect something fluffy and KouAo from me in the near future, I just feel so bad about how I ended it with him :c

_"Do whatever you want to do."_

Those were the words that hadn't left Aoba's mind since Mink had uttered them in that hospital room all those weeks ago. Those were the words that had kept him sane, and the words that pushed him to do what he knew he had to do.

After he was discharged, Aoba went back home and immediately started getting ready for his cross-country move. Even though Mink had made it clear that he wanted Aoba to stay far away, Aoba kept those words in his heart. He was doing what he wanted to do.

So, in between lectures from Tae (who was surprisingly cool with the story of how he got injured, and the plans that he had made; after all, she had went through the same thing with Haruka and Naine) about not overworking himself, and visits from a very guilty-feeling Koujaku (Aoba thought it would be weird being around him after Mink told him how Koujaku really felt about him, but it honestly didn't change how Aoba felt about him. They were still best friends, after all,) Aoba slowly packed up everything he needed, waiting until he was healthy enough to get on a plane and fly across the country. 

Healing was a painful process. Aoba had to go through rehabilitation and another surgery, but he was finally given a bill of health clean enough for him to fly.

The night before he left for DC, Aoba sat on the veranda with Koujaku. It was a bittersweet night, spent with the two of them talking about anything and everything, not knowing when they would actually see each other again.

"Do you think I'm making the right choice?" Aoba asked as the night grew darker around them. 

"He told you to do whatever you wanted to, right? I think as long as you do that, you're going to make the right choice." Koujaku exhaled smoke from his cigarette, and stared at the neighboring building.

"What if he rejects me?" It was a fear Aoba held in him deep down. Mink told Aoba he shouldn't follow him, but he also said to do whatever he wanted to do. Aoba wasn't sure what sort of reaction he would get.

"Then come back home. I'm opening up a salon, so I'll still be here. And you know Tae won't leave." Koujaku laughed softly, and took another drag. "I'll accept you back with open arms." 

The last part was tacked on as an afterthought, and Aoba thought he knew what Koujaku was getting at. The older man had been heavily hinting in the last few days before Aoba's departure that if things with Mink didn't work out, then Aoba could come back, and be with him. It was sort of an unspoken agreement between the two; if things went bad, Aoba would settle for his second choice, and Koujaku would pick up the pieces that Mink had left behind. It wasn't either of their ideal endings, but it was some sort of ending, at least. 

"I know," Aoba sighed. He honestly felt bad about treating his best friend like that, but he knew he would never be able to be happy if he didn't at least try one last time with Mink. If Mink would have stayed firm, maybe Aoba would have listened to him and stayed in Arizona. But that final utterance, "Do whatever you want to do," convinced Aoba that he had to attempt to reconcile their relationship. 

And that's exactly what he was going to do. He was going to do what he wanted to do, even if that was wrong. 

-

Aoba landed in DC the next day around 12. 

At first, he avoided what he knew he had to do. He went to eat lunch at a small restaurant he thought Mink would love. He wandered around for a few hours, taking in the sights of all the famous monuments. He popped into the Holocaust Museum, and realized that he knew a lot of the history behind many of the exhibits there. That was mostly Mink's doing; anything World War II, Mink taught with passion. It was his favorite subject, and it was because of his grandfather that he loved it so much. Mink's love for that period in time, and history in general, spawned a love for it in Aoba.

So Aoba found himself wandering from museum to museum for a few hours that day, until the sun began to set and the streets began to clear out. Only then did Aoba allow his feet to take him to the place he knew he had to go to. 

The Native American History Smithsonian was a large, modern building sat on a street corner in the Smithsonian district of DC. Though Aoba had never been to DC before, he felt a pull towards the building. 

As he approached the doors, Aoba began to panic. He feared rejection from Mink more than anything else. The thought of having to go home was one that hadn't crossed his mind much before he stepped into the building, but as he walked into the lobby, that was the only thing he could think of. 

He walked to the woman at the front desk. "Do you know if someone named Mink is working today?" He asked, hesitating and tripping over his English in his nervousness. 

"He's actually doing a demonstration on the Navajo Code Talkers on the third floor right now." The woman responded, and Aoba muttered a thanks and nodded.

Aoba decided to let him finish his demonstration. He had heard about the code talkers plenty of times from Mink, and wanted to let the people who hadn't heard it get that chance. Aoba wasn't sure how exactly Mink would react to seeing him, and didn't want to mess up his presentation or bother him at work.

After pacing the bottom two floors for a while and looking at the various artifacts, Aoba decided that Mink must be finished by now. Nervously, he ascended the staircase and stopped on the third floor.

Almost immediately, he could hear chatter from a group of tourists. More than that, he heard Mink, speaking loudly over them. "... it was the Code Talkers who were the true heroes of the war at home."

Aoba turned a corner and cracked a smile. Mink had told him this spiel a hundred times. He followed the sound of Mink's voice, and stood behind a wall. It sounded like Mink was almost finished, and he wouldn't want to interrupt him. His heart beat nervously as Mink gave his final thoughts.

"It's only fitting that the most marginalized groups are given the most important jobs during times of crisis." Mink laughed. "Thank you all for coming, and I hope you... enjoyed."

Aoba couldn't help himself anymore. As Mink was closing his presentation, he stepped into view and was immediately spotted. He gave Mink a wave, and the older man just looked at him.

Mink hadn't changed. It had only been a few weeks since he had left, but Aoba was shocked at the sight of him. Maybe Aoba had just missed him, but he thought Mink looked more beautiful now than he ever had, with the setting sun shining in through the windows, illuminating his face and hair.

As the tourists left the area around Mink, Aoba walked towards him. His heart was beating wildly, and he had to stop himself from running. 

"I never thought for one second that you would be content with staying away," Mink said as Aoba approached him. He looked away, staring at a large woven basket on the wall at his side.

"You told me to do whatever I wanted. And here I am, I'm doing what I want." Aoba said. All he wanted to do was pull Mink down into a hug, but he controlled himself.

"I can't stop you from doing that, can I?" Mink asked, and finally looked at Aoba. It made Aoba's knees weak. 

"No." Aoba said firmly. "I came to see you. To tell you that I don't care about the danger you may put me in. I came to be with you. You won't get away that easily."

Mink didn't say anything, but he grunted in response.

"When does your shift end?" Aoba asked. He had to keep Mink talking. He had to hear that voice after going so long without it.

"It's already over." Mink said. 

"Then how about we go get coffee? I found this cute little cafe that sells organic stuff. It's a lot like the one you would take me to in Arizona." Aoba said, giving Mink a hopeful look. This was the moment of truth; whatever Mink said after this was going to determine the course of Aoba's foreseeable future. It almost felt like Aoba's heart would stop he was so nervous. 

"If that's what you want to do." Mink replied after a moment, and Aoba broke into a grin. Mink didn't push him away, and actually had agreed to go on a date. Aoba couldn't have hoped for anything better.

Sure, it was only coffee. But it was the first step into repairing their strained relationship, and it made Aoba happier than anything in a long while had made him. Coffee was just the start.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the lame-o ending, im really bad at ending things   
> but this is it, and its much less heartbreaking than I intended (aoba was going to settle down with Koujaku for a good year or so before leaving him to run off and find Mink c:)  
> I hope you all enjoy, and keep your eyes out for my next work!!!


End file.
